Health: App helps breast most cancers sufferers, survivors hold transferring

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The Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation’s My Active Health app is designed to reduce the time spent sitting down for cancer survivors.

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Jill Barker • • Especially for Montreal Gazette While events like the CIBC Run for the Cure have raised millions of dollars each year for breast cancer awareness and research, patients and survivors often struggle to find the resources they need to exercise. A new app from the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation aims to change this.While events like the CIBC Run for the Cure have raised millions of dollars each year for breast cancer awareness and research, patients and survivors often struggle to find the resources they need to exercise. A new app from the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation aims to change this. Photo by JOHN KENNEY /.Montreal Gazette files

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While breast cancer survival has increased since 1987, it is still the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Canadian women and ranks second in cancer-related deaths among women. With 88 percent of Canadian women now living at least five years after diagnosis, there is increasing emphasis on survival and better management of the physical and psychological challenges associated with cancer treatments, some of which can last for years.

One of the goals of cancer patients and survivors is to maintain their quality of life amid the stress that the disease puts on daily life. However, an often underestimated contribution to improving the physical and mental health of breast cancer patients is exercise, which has been shown to not only improve the quality of life but also significantly reduce the risk of disease recurrence and mortality. So strong is the relationship between exercise and improved breast cancer outcomes that exercise is increasingly included in standard cancer care protocols.

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However, for many women with breast cancer, finding the resources to initiate or return to exercise safely and gradually, especially juggling medical appointments and dealing with the debilitating fatigue associated with treatment, is not easy. The Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation has launched a mobile app called My Active Health (available on the App Store and Google Play).

The app was launched in March after two and a half years of development and is intended to shorten the time spent sitting down for cancer survivors. It’s free, available in French and English, and accessible anywhere in the world.

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“Regardless of where you are in Canada, given the current pandemic and the isolation of those affected, it can be more difficult to offer personalized and supervised exercise programs,” said Karine Iseult Ippersiel, Foundation President and CEO. “The Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation is committed to supporting and mentoring breast cancer patients by offering a free alternative to promoting physical activity through a mobile application.”

One of the main features of the app is the link to a library of exercises and exercise videos designed exclusively for breast cancer survivors. The app has built-in intuitiveness that filters training options based on your individual needs, depending on your training history, your daily mood and your pain threshold.

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Access to resources isn’t the only struggle when it comes to movement. Finding time for workouts amid medical appointments and other tasks can be a nightmare, which is why the app includes a planning and care plan tool. You can add your workouts and other appointments to your weekly calendar with a built-in reminder to be honest. You can even add your medication and doctor’s reports to the app so you can save your workout and medical history in one place.

Another nice feature of the app is the ability to create your own “care circle” by adding the contact information of friends and healthcare professionals that is important to your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. There are also links to cancer support groups and Facebook pages that make it easy to connect with other survivors.

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“We work with patients to meet their needs, especially those that the government and existing health services cannot provide,” said Ippersiel.

As the app is new, Ippersiel says the foundation is open to suggestions on how it can be improved for coast-to-coast users, including the ability to sync with other health apps and / or activity trackers and wearables like Fitbit and Apple Watch . In the profile area of ​​the app there is a tab with feedback, which you can use to easily pass on suggestions for improvement.

The app was specially developed for cancer patients and survivors who feel so overwhelmed and overtired that even the idea of ​​doing a workout seems too strenuous. The exercise library is based on the information entered in your care plan and your current level of fatigue and fitness, so you can easily stay in your comfort zone every day. And for those who have previously ignored exercise, research suggests that the cancer patients who benefited most from physical activity were those who were sedentary before their diagnosis.

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Don’t worry about how long or how much you need to exercise to get the most benefits. Instead, prioritize consistency over intensity and duration. Each exercise stimulates an increase in cancer-fighting properties that build up over time. The old adage that every workout counts is especially true for breast cancer patients and the large number of survivors who trust in staying cancer-free for years.

  1. The Mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, is riding a battery-assisted bike in 2019. As global temperatures rise, bike sharing is an activity that may begin earlier in the spring and later in the fall, but any increase in participation will likely offset it. Jill Barker writes that it declined in the now hotter summer months.

    Fitness: When the climate changes, exercise habits also change

  2. For many people, the gym is part of the exercise room and part of the sanctuary, allowing them to have non-stop personal time on an otherwise hectic day.

    Fitness: Do you prefer home workouts or workouts in the gym?

  3. Try to maintain or improve the intensity, whether reducing the number or length of workouts, if life gets in the way of your fitness routine.

    Fitness: What Are Your Exercise Options When Life Is Busy?

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