exercise – Oral Cancer News

UC trial tests tongue exercises to improve swallowing function after stroke

Source: www.uc.edu Author: Tim Tedeschi Up to three-quarters of all stroke survivors have some form of difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) after a stroke. Dysphagia frequently leads to entry of food or liquid into the lungs and has significant impacts on patients’ overall health and quality of life. In the most severe cases, patients are no longer able to eat or drink at all or can die from aspiration pneumonia. Because eating and drinking are pivotal to participating in life socially, dysphagia can also lead to depression. A new trial at the University of Cincinnati Gardner Neuroscience Institute, funded by a $660,000 National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant, will test an at-home tongue endurance exercise to improve patients’ swallowing function. Research background Speech language pathologist and trial principal investigator Brittany Krekeler, PhD, said swallowing issues can sometimes be a “hidden” disorder, because it is usually secondary to other diseases. “You hurt for these patients when they can’t enjoy eating and drinking, and swallowing disorders can be a burden on family members as well,” said Krekeler, assistant professor and clinician-scientist at the UC College of Medicine’s Dysphagia Rehabilitation Laboratory. “From working with these patients clinically, we see how much it means for patients to be able to eat and drink again.” Krekeler said research into improving swallowing function is relatively new, as historically the problem was addressed by giving feeding tubes to patients with post-stroke dysphagia. But feeding tubes can fall out, can get infected and prevent patients from being able to enjoy [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2024-01-10T15:03:25-07:00January, 2024|Oral Cancer News|

A challenge to chew on: eating and drinking after cancer treatment

Source: www.curetoday.com Author: Dara Chadwick, Heal Exercise has always been part of Scott Wieskamp’s life. But after cancer treatment, the longtime runner and marathoner added a new element to his training regimen — exercises to strengthen and maintain his swallowing muscles. "Every day while I’m driving to work, I open my mouth like I’m yawning to stretch all my facial muscles as much as I can,” says Wieskamp, 62, who lives just outside Lincoln, Nebraska. “I take my tongue and put it under the back of my lower teeth and push as hard as I can to exercise my tongue muscles. There’s about half a dozen things I do for a few minutes every day.” Four years ago, Wieskamp was treated for oral cancer caused by the human papillomavirus. The aggressive treatment, which included 39 radiation sessions and several doses of the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, knocked out the cancer. But it also left Wieskamp unable to eat, and he lost 15 pounds in a matter of weeks. “As you get radiation in the neck and throat area, it becomes painful to swallow,” he says. “I quit doing all that. I quit eating, quit swallowing — I couldn’t even drink.” Because he was unable to get adequate nutrition, his doctors inserted a feeding tube so Wieskamp wouldn’t have to swallow. The tube stayed in place throughout his two months of treatment and for about a month after, he says. Although his nutrition improved, Wieskamp says he was left with another problem: [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2021-07-09T17:43:00-07:00July, 2021|Oral Cancer News|

Study: Regular drinkers can curb chance of getting alcohol related diseases with exercise

Source: www.express.co.uk Author: Richard Percival The scientists revealed that heavier drinkers needed to produce greater physical output to offset other deadly diseases associated with drink. Meanwhile, people who recently gave up alcohol could also reduce their chances of getting sick if they exercised more too. Researchers from the University of Sydney used data from participants aged 30 years and over in ten British population-based health surveys. They then compared this with death rates of alcohol-related cancers which included oral cavity, throat, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colorectal, stomach and additionally pancreas and lung Using models, they discovered a strong direct association between alcohol consumption and mortality risk of alcohol-related cancers, with a significantly higher risk among ex-drinkers. They discovered people who drank excessive amounts of alcohol every week (more than 14 units for women and 21 for men) but who did at least seven hours of exercise were less likely to die from these cancers. The study published in the International Study of Cancer last week added: “Engaging in a recommended level of physical activity attenuated the negative effects of alcohol consumption on alcohol-related cancer mortality. “This provides valuable evidence of the potential of promoting physical activity as an adjunct risk minimisation measure for alcohol-related cancer prevention.” It is the first time analysts have looked at the link between exercise and surviving cancers linked with alcohol. Anne McTiernan, a cancer prevention expert at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, said that the evidence between exercise and alcohol “was clear”.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2020-05-25T17:48:17-07:00May, 2020|Oral Cancer News|

Experts warn of epidemic of head and neck tumors caused by sexually-transmitted HPV infections and obesity

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk Author: staff While cancer rates continue to drop, two new increasingly common causes of cancer could lead to an epidemic of head and neck cancer, experts warn. Obesity and the human papillomavirus, or HPV, are the next wave of cancer threats, according to a report released Monday with data from the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries. Baby boomers already infected with HPV will likely develop cancers from the virus in coming years and the youger generation is not being vaccinated against it at anything close to the recommended rate. And a third of cancer cases have been linked to obesity, which is a growing health concern with little done to combat it. The report was published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. From 2000 to 2009 cancer death rates dropped steadily by 1.8 per cent among children and men and 1.4 per cent among women. Cancer diagnosis rates were stable for women, dipped slightly among men, and went up a tiny 0.6 per cent among children under 14. 'The fact that people are not dying of cancer is clear evidence of progress,' Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society told MSNBC. 'But could have a much lower death rate from cancer if we simply got serious about doing all the things that work. 'Over the next 10 years, a combination of high caloric intake and low physical activity [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2013-01-10T09:52:16-07:00January, 2013|Oral Cancer News|

Marathon man: 75-year old-resident still running after all these years

Source: www.hudsonreporter.com Author: E. Assata Wright Don’t tell 75-year-old marathon runner Leslie Mayer he’s “amazing” for training for the upcoming Damon Runyon 5K Run, a cancer research benefit to be held Sunday, Aug. 15 at Yankee Stadium. And don’t tell him it’s “incredible” that he’s still active and fit “at his age.” “Let me tell you, there are people my age, people older than me, who can run in half the time I do,” he said. “There’s a 5K race in Teterboro, near the airport, and there was a man there, 70 years old, and he ran the race at 7 minutes and 48 seconds a mile. And he beat a friend of mine who is 53 years old by 10 seconds.” Mayer, a Secaucus resident for the past decade, has been running for about 35 years, and has used long distance running to help him deal with everything from problems at work to his own recent battle with cancer. “I found that running, even though it’s a serious exercise, it enables you to release all tension and stress, and enables you to do a lot of thinking and clear your mind. It’s the only sport where you’re really competing with yourself, because you’re challenging yourself to run faster at better times that you’ve done before. And you’re also challenging yourself to run farther distances.” Running is therapeutic Mayer, who works at a car dealership in Paramus, said he first discovered running years ago when he was working in New [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-08-01T14:54:17-07:00August, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Get moving: cancer survivors urged to exercise

Source: apnews.myway.com Author: Lauran Neergaard New guidelines are urging survivors to exercise more, even - hard as it may sound - those who haven't yet finished their treatment. There's growing evidence that physical activity improves quality of life and eases some cancer-related fatigue. More, it can help fend off a serious decline in physical function that can last long after therapy is finished. Consider: In one year, women who needed chemotherapy for their breast cancer can see a swapping of muscle for fat that's equivalent to 10 years of normal aging, says Dr. Wendy Demark-Wahnefried of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In other words, a 45-year-old may find herself with the fatter, weaker body type of a 55-year-old. Scientists have long advised that being overweight and sedentary increases the risk for various cancers. Among the nation's nearly 12 million cancer survivors, there are hints - although not yet proof - that people who are more active may lower risk of a recurrence. And like everyone who ages, the longer cancer survivors live, the higher their risk for heart disease that exercise definitely fights. The American College of Sports Medicine convened a panel of cancer and exercise specialists to evaluate the evidence. Guidelines issued this month advise cancer survivors to aim for the same amount of exercise as recommended for the average person: about 2 1/2 hours a week. Patients still in treatment may not feel up to that much, the guidelines acknowledge, but should avoid inactivity on their good [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-06-28T20:08:45-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

New guidelines emphasize the need for cancer patients to exercise

Source: www.medscape.com Author: Roxanne Nelson In contrast to past advice to cancer patients to rest and avoid activity, the message now is to avoid inactivity. An expert panel convened by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has concluded that exercise training is safe during and after cancer treatments and can improve physical functioning, quality of life, and cancer-related fatigue. The new ACSM guidelines urge cancer patients to be as physically active as possible both during and after treatment. "The take-home message from the panel that put together the guidelines is to avoid inactivity during and posttreatment," said Kathryn Schmitz, PhD, MPH, associate professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. She presented the guidelines here at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2010 Annual Meeting. "Dozens of randomized controlled trials in a broad variety of patient populations have established the safety of exercise during treatment and the ability to go from being sedentary to completing 150 minutes of aerobic active over the course of even a single month," she said. "The risk–benefit leans heavily in the direction of getting patients moving and keeping them moving." Exercise Oncology Exercise is an area that is gaining an increasing awareness in the cancer literature, noted Jennifer A. Ligibel, MD, who moderated the session where the guidelines were presented. Dr. Ligibel is from the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston, Massachusetts. "If you had done a search between 1950 and 1979 using the words 'exercise/physical activity' and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2010-06-18T08:17:43-07:00June, 2010|Oral Cancer News|

Medicines to deter some cancers are not taken

Source: www.nytimes.com Author: Gina Kolata Many Americans do not think twice about taking medicines to prevent heart disease and stroke. But cancer is different. Much of what Americans do in the name of warding off cancer has not been shown to matter, and some things are actually harmful. Yet the few medicines proved to deter cancer are widely ignored. Take prostate cancer, the second-most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, surpassed only by easily treated skin cancers. More than 192,000 cases of it will be diagnosed this year, and more than 27,000 men will die from it. And, it turns out, there is a way to prevent many cases of prostate cancer. A large and rigorous study found that a generic drug, finasteride, costing about $2 a day, could prevent as many as 50,000 cases each year. Another study found that finasteride’s close cousin, dutasteride, about $3.50 a day, has the same effect. Nevertheless, researchers say, the drugs that work are largely ignored. And supplements that have been shown to be not just ineffective but possibly harmful are taken by men hoping to protect themselves from prostate cancer. As the nation’s war on cancer continues, with little change in the overall cancer mortality rate, many experts on cancer and public health say more attention should be paid to prevention. But prevention has proved more difficult than many imagined. It has been devilishly difficult to show conclusively that something simple like eating more fruits and vegetables or exercising regularly helps. [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2009-11-14T09:23:01-07:00November, 2009|Oral Cancer News|

Targeted Exercise Improves Function, Lessens Pain in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors

Source: Abkhazia (www.abkhazia.com) Author: Ramaz Mitaishvili Progressive resistance exercise training following surgery helps reduce upper extremity pain and dysfunction in certain head and neck cancer survivors, according to Canadian researchers. "The trial," lead investigator Dr. Margaret L McNeely told Reuters Health, "demonstrates important improvements from progressive resistance exercise training on shoulder pain and disability, upper extremity strength and movement in post-neck-dissection head and neck cancer survivors." In the July 1st issue of Cancer, Dr. McNeely of the University of Alberta, Edmonton and colleagues observe that shoulder pain and disability are well known complications of surgery in such patients. In an earlier pilot study, the researchers found that progressive resistance exercise appeared to be beneficial, and in the current study they randomized 52 patients to the progressive approach or to a standardized therapeutic exercise protocol. At 12 weeks, intention-to-treat analysis showed that patient-rated disability and pain overall fell by 14.6 points in the progressive group compared to 4.8 in the standard group, a significant difference after adjustment. There were also significantly greater improvements in upper extremity strength and endurance in the progressive group than in the standard group. In addition, there was a trend towards reduced neck-dissection impairment and fatigue, and improved quality of life. Given these encouraging results, Dr. McNeely concluded that "the addition of progressive resistance exercise training to standard physical therapy should be considered in the rehabilitation of head and neck cancer survivors."

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-08-02T06:51:14-07:00August, 2008|Oral Cancer News|