Here's a cure for side effects of chemotherapy

New Delhi: Exercise like walking or jogging may help reduce side effects of chemotherapy – this is what a new research says.

Exercise as a therapy to complement chemotherapy has a positive effect on muscles, balance and tumour-related fatigue syndrome, researchers said.

Patients tolerate the therapy better and experience less disease recurrence (relapses) later on. This has already been substantiated by many studies in the past.

However, these examined patients in the early stages of their illness and did not differentiate between various types of tumour, they said.

The study from Goethe University Frankfurt and Agaplesion Markus Hospital in Germany shows that patients with an advanced gastrointestinal tumour can also profit from exercise therapy.

Participants exercised either three times a week for 50 minutes or five times a week for 30 minutes at a pace which they considered to be "slightly strenuous."

If they were unable to manage this, then they were allowed to shorten their training sessions on the basis of a standardised model.

(With Agency inputs)