Key messages

- Resistance training during cancer therapy has the potential to improve fatigue and quality of life.
- Resistance training after cancer therapy may improve quality of life a little.
- More research could help understand the effects of resistance training before cancer therapy.

What is cancer-related fatigue?

Cancer-related fatigue is a feeling of extreme tiredness that lasts for a long time. It can come from cancer or cancer therapy, or both. Cancer-related fatigue affects both the body and mood, and makes it hard to perform regular activities. It is stronger than just being tired, and does not go away by resting.

What is resistance training, and how can it help?

Resistance training is a type of exercise where your muscles work against a force, for example, dumbbells, machines, resistance bands, or your own body weight. Resistance training affects many things that are linked to cancer-related fatigue. For example, it can make your muscles stronger, prevent muscle loss, and improve your mood, sleep, and fitness. Therefore, resistance training may help improve cancer-related fatigue.

What did we want to find out?

We wanted to find out if resistance training improves cancer-related fatigue. We looked at whether any positive effects on fatigue lasted after the end of training, measured in the short term (up to 12 weeks), medium term (over 12 weeks to under 6 months), and long term (6 months or longer). We also looked at quality of life, unwanted or harmful effects, depression, and anxiety.

What did we do?

We searched for studies that compared resistance training with no training in people diagnosed with any cancer. People could do any kind of resistance training, starting before, during or after cancer therapy. We summarised the results of the studies. We looked at aspects such as study methods and study size to rate our confidence in the evidence.

What did we find?

We found 21 studies with 2221 participants with different cancers. Resistance training started during cancer therapy in 14 studies, and after cancer therapy in seven studies. We found no studies on resistance training that started before cancer therapy. Most studies reported results on short-term effects.

Resistance training compared with no training during cancer therapy

- Twelve studies provided evidence about resistance training for fatigue in the short term, and it probably has a beneficial effect compared with no training. We are not sure about its effects in the medium or long term.

- Twelve studies provided evidence about resistance training for quality of life in the short term, and it may have a small beneficial effect compared with no training. We are not sure about its effects in the medium or long term.

- Only two studies reported unwanted or harmful effects for both people doing resistance training as well as those not doing training, and we are not sure about the effect of resistance training on unwanted or harmful effects.

Resistance training compared with no training after cancer therapy

- Three studies provided evidence about the effects of resistance training on fatigue in the short term, but we are unsure about its effects.

- Four studies provided evidence about the effects of resistance training on quality of life in the short term, and we found resistance training may have both a small beneficial effect or no effect on quality of life.

- No studies reported data on the effects of resistance training on either fatigue or quality of life in the medium or long term.

- Only three studies reported unwanted or harmful effects for both people doing resistance training as well as those not doing training, and we are not sure about the effect of resistance training on unwanted or harmful effects.

What are the limitations of the evidence?

Overall, our confidence in the evidence was low. People in the studies knew if they were doing resistance training or not. Although this was inevitable, it could have influenced the results. We did not find enough large studies that provided evidence for medium- and long-term effects of resistance training to be certain about our results. The way studies reported unwanted or harmful effects did not let us draw conclusions about the impact of resistance training on these effects.

How up to date is this evidence?

The evidence is up to date to October 2023.