Cancer Rehabilitation Awareness Week
For many people, the period during and after cancer treatment can bring unexpected physical and emotional challenges including fatigue, pain, weakness, reduced mobility, loss of fitness, changes in sensation and difficulty returning to everyday activities. These challenges can sometimes persist long after treatment has ended.
But you don’t have to simply accept them as the cost of surviving cancer.
Cancer rehabilitation provides the specialised support, guidance and exercise needed to help people manage treatment-related side effects, rebuild physical capacity, restore function and return to the activities that matter most. And importantly, cancer rehabilitation isn’t only for people who have finished treatment. Rehabilitation can begin before treatment, continue throughout treatment and remain valuable during recovery and long-term survivorship.
What is Cancer Rehabilitation?
Cancer rehabilitation is a specialised rehabilitation approach that helps people prepare for cancer treatment, maintain their physical function during treatment, recover after treatment and manage the long-term effects of cancer treatment.
It recognises that recovery is about more than treating the cancer itself. It’s about supporting the whole person to regain function, independence, confidence and participation in everyday life. Cancer rehabilitation can involve physiotherapy, exercise prescription and other supportive care depending on your individual needs.
Your rehabilitation program is tailored to your:
- Cancer diagnosis and treatment
- Current symptoms and side effects
- Physical capacity
- Medical history
- Lifestyle and activities
- Personal goals
- Stage of recovery
There is no single recovery pathway. No two cancer recoveries are the same.
Why is Cancer Rehabilitation Important?
Cancer and its treatments can have a significant impact on the body. Surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapy and hormone therapy can contribute to changes in strength, mobility, cardiovascular fitness, sensation and physical function. Some people also experience persistent fatigue, pain or weakness after treatment has finished.
Without appropriate support, these effects can make it harder to return to work, exercise, family responsibilities, hobbies and other aspects of everyday life. The Cancer Rehabilitation Awareness Week 2026 campaign highlights that untreated treatment-related effects can contribute to long-term disability, chronic pain, mental distress and reduced participation in daily life.
Cancer rehabilitation can help you:
- Rebuild strength and physical capacity
- Improve mobility and flexibility
- Manage cancer-related fatigue
- Improve cardiovascular fitness
- Maintain or rebuild muscle mass
- Manage pain and treatment-related symptoms
- Address balance and falls risk
- Manage peripheral neuropathy
- Support lymphatic health
- Monitor and manage lymphoedema
- Address scar and soft tissue restrictions
- Improve confidence with movement and exercise
- Return to work, sport, hobbies and everyday activities
- Maintain independence
- Support long-term health and quality of life
The Four Phases of Cancer Rehabilitation
Cancer rehabilitation can be considered across four overlapping phases:
1. Prehabilitation (before treatment): Preparing your body and building physical capacity before treatment begins.
2. Rehabilitation during treatment: Maintaining function, managing side effects and adapting exercise throughout treatment.
3. Rehabilitation after treatment: Rebuilding strength, fitness, mobility and confidence as you recover.
4. Long-term survivorship: Managing ongoing effects and supporting health, function and quality of life over the longer term.
These phases aren’t necessarily separate. You may move between them depending on your treatment, symptoms, recovery and individual circumstances.
Prehabilitation
Prehabilitation, or “prehab”, takes place before cancer treatment begins.
Following a cancer diagnosis, it can be difficult to think beyond the immediate treatment ahead. However, the period before treatment provides an opportunity to prepare physically and establish strategies that can support you through treatment and recovery.
A physiotherapist can assess your:
- Strength
- Cardiovascular fitness
- Mobility
- Balance
- Functional capacity
- Current physical activity
- Fatigue
- Pain
- Existing musculoskeletal issues
From this assessment, an individualised exercise program can be developed.
This may include:
- Aerobic exercise
- Resistance training
- Mobility exercises
- Balance training
- Functional exercises
Prehabilitation can also help you understand how to adapt your exercise throughout treatment and give you practical strategies for managing changes in your physical capacity.
Why prepare before treatment?
Cancer treatment can involve periods of reduced activity, fatigue, hospitalisation and other physical challenges. Building physical capacity beforehand can provide a stronger foundation for treatment and recovery. It also means you can establish an exercise routine before treatment begins, rather than having to start from scratch when you may already be experiencing treatment-related side effects.
Rehabilitation During Cancer Treatment
During chemotherapy, radiation therapy, surgical recovery or other treatments, rehabilitation focuses on maintaining physical function, minimising treatment-related side effects and helping you remain as active as safely possible.
Your exercise program may need to change from week to week depending on your treatment and how you are feeling. The goal isn’t necessarily to maintain your pre-treatment level of exercise. Instead, the goal is to find the right amount and type of movement for your body at that point in your treatment journey.
Managing fatigue
Cancer-related fatigue can be very different from ordinary tiredness. A physiotherapist can help you develop strategies to balance activity and recovery while gradually building physical capacity. Importantly, prolonged inactivity can contribute to further loss of strength and fitness, so finding an appropriate level of movement can be an important part of maintaining function.
Maintaining strength
Cancer treatment and reduced activity can contribute to loss of muscle strength and physical capacity. Appropriately prescribed resistance exercise can help maintain strength and function throughout treatment.
Managing mobility
Surgery, radiation therapy, pain and inactivity can contribute to stiffness and reduced range of movement. Physiotherapy can help maintain mobility and address restrictions that affect everyday function.
Managing peripheral neuropathy
Some cancer treatments can cause peripheral neuropathy, resulting in numbness, tingling, altered sensation or weakness. This can affect balance, walking and confidence with movement. Physiotherapy can help address the functional consequences of neuropathy through exercise, balance training and other strategies.
Supporting lymphatic health
Cancer surgery and radiation therapy can affect the lymphatic system and increase the risk of lymphoedema. For people at risk, appropriate monitoring, education and early intervention can help identify changes and support lymphatic health.
Rehabilitation After Cancer Treatment
Finishing cancer treatment is a major milestone. But it doesn’t always mean that you immediately feel like yourself again.
You may still experience:
- Fatigue
- Pain
- Weakness
- Reduced fitness
- Reduced mobility
- Scar tightness
- Lymphoedema
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Balance difficulties
- Reduced confidence with exercise
- Difficulty returning to work or normal activities
For some people, these issues can be unexpected. You may have been told to “get active” after treatment, but knowing that exercise is beneficial isn’t always the same as knowing what to do, how much to do, how hard to work or how to safely progress. This is where cancer rehabilitation can make a difference.
Exercise in Cancer Rehabilitation
Exercise is an important component of cancer rehabilitation. Research and clinical guidelines support physical activity and exercise as part of cancer recovery and long-term health. However, simply being told to “exercise more” doesn’t provide everyone with the support they need.
The Cancer Rehab Awareness Week 2026 campaign highlights that only around 1 in 10 people with cancer are reaching the levels of exercise associated with improved recovery and long-term health.
There is a difference between knowing exercise is good for you and knowing:
- What type of exercise you should do
- How much you should do
- How hard you should work
- How often you should exercise
- How to manage fatigue
- How to exercise around treatment
- How to progress safely
- What to do when symptoms flare
- When you need to modify your program
Advice is not always enough. Support makes a difference.
A cancer rehabilitation physiotherapist can translate general exercise recommendations into an individualised program that is appropriate for your body, your treatment and your goals.
Long-Term Survivorship
Cancer rehabilitation doesn’t necessarily end once you’ve recovered from treatment. Some treatment-related side effects can persist or emerge over time. Long-term survivorship rehabilitation focuses on maintaining health and function while addressing any ongoing effects of cancer or its treatment.
Common ongoing effects include:
- Persistent fatigue
- Chronic pain
- Lymphoedema
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Reduced strength
- Reduced cardiovascular fitness
- Mobility problems
- Balance difficulties
- Changes in body composition
- Musculoskeletal problems
- Reduced confidence with exercise
- Difficulty returning to work or recreational activities
The focus may gradually shift from recovering from treatment to building and maintaining a healthy, active life. Your rehabilitation program evolves with you as your goals and physical capacity change.
When Should You Start Cancer Rehabilitation?
There is no single “right” time to start. Ideally, rehabilitation begins around diagnosis, allowing you to establish a baseline and prepare for treatment. But if you didn’t have access to rehabilitation before or during treatment, it isn’t too late.
You can benefit from cancer rehabilitation at all stages of the cancer care journey. The Cancer Rehab Awareness Week campaign emphasises an important message: it is never too late to benefit from rehabilitation.
Understanding Your Recovery Changes Everything
Cancer recovery can be confusing.
You may wonder:
Is this normal?
Will this improve?
Should I be doing more exercise?
How much is enough?
Why am I still so tired?
Why don’t I feel like myself anymore?
Who can help me?
Cancer rehabilitation can help answer these questions. Understanding what is happening in your body, what can be improved and what support is available can make recovery feel more manageable. Your rehabilitation program can provide you with the knowledge, guidance and support to take an active role in your recovery. Because when you understand your recovery, everything changes.
Cancer Rehabilitation at Hunter Rehab Hub
At Hunter Rehab Hub, we believe your recovery deserves support.
Cancer rehabilitation is about more than helping you recover from treatment. It is about helping you regain function, build confidence, stay active and participate in the activities and relationships that matter to you.
Our physiotherapy approach can support you through the different phases of cancer rehabilitation:
Prehabilitation
Prepare for treatment and build physical capacity.
During treatment
Maintain function, adapt exercise and manage treatment-related side effects.
Recovery
Rebuild strength, fitness, mobility and confidence.
Long-term survivorship
Manage ongoing side effects and support long-term health and wellbeing.
Your program is individually tailored to your diagnosis, treatment, symptoms, physical capacity and goals.
You don’t need to wait until treatment is finished.
You don’t need to be “fit enough” to start.
And you don’t have to simply accept fatigue, pain or weakness as the unavoidable cost of surviving cancer.
If you are preparing for cancer treatment, currently undergoing treatment, recovering after treatment or experiencing long-term effects, cancer rehabilitation can help.
Contact the team at Hunter Rehab Hub to explore how personalised cancer rehabilitation can support your recovery and quality of life.
Key Takeaways
- Cancer rehabilitation can begin before treatment and continue throughout survivorship
- Prehabilitation helps prepare your body for treatment and establish healthy movement and exercise habits
- Rehabilitation during treatment focuses on maintaining function and managing side effects
- Rehabilitation after treatment helps rebuild strength, fitness, mobility and confidence
- Long-term survivorship rehabilitation addresses ongoing side effects and supports long-term health and quality of life
- Exercise is an important part of cancer rehabilitation, but personalised guidance and progression matter
- Fatigue, pain, weakness and reduced mobility should not automatically be accepted as something you simply have to live with
- No two cancer recoveries are the same
- It is never too late to benefit from cancer rehabilitation
References
Cancer Rehabilitation Foundation (PINC & STEEL). (2026). Cancer Rehab Awareness Week 2026.
Cancer Rehabilitation Foundation (PINC & STEEL). (2026). Cancer Rehab Awareness Week 2026 Information Pack.
Cormie, P., Atkinson, M., Bucci, L., et al. (2018). Clinical Oncology Society of Australia position statement on exercise in cancer care. Medical Journal of Australia, 209(4), 184–187.
Campbell, K. L., Winters-Stone, K. M., Wiskemann, J., et al. (2019). Exercise guidelines for cancer survivors: Consensus statement from the International Multidisciplinary Roundtable. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 51(11), 2375–2390.
Cormie, P., Zopf, E. M., Zhang, X., & Schmitz, K. H. (2017). The impact of exercise on cancer mortality, recurrence, and treatment-related adverse effects. Epidemiologic Reviews, 39(1), 71–92
Disclaimer
This content is general in nature and provided for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individualised medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have concerns about your symptoms or health, consult a qualified healthcare professional.
