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5 Reasons to Exercise Before a Transplant for Blood Cancer

Writer: Valere Health
Valere Health
Oct 19
3 min read

If you are heading toward a stem cell or bone marrow transplant, the weeks beforehand are not just waiting time. They are a window to prepare your body for one of the most physically demanding treatments in cancer care and what you do can improve how well you tolerate it


Structured exercise before transplant, often called prehabilitation, is one of the few things within your control at this stage.


Here are five reasons it matters, and what the research says.


1. Build muscle before you need it

Muscle is your reserve. Transplant and the treatment around it draw on that reserve heavily, and the stronger you are going in, the more you have to spend.

Research in blood cancers has found that muscle mass was associated with improved survival.¹ Low muscle mass is also one of the measures used to assess frailty, and frailty can affect whether someone is considered eligible for an intensive treatment like transplant in the first place.

Strength you build now is strength you can spend later.


2. Spend less time in hospital

Fitness going into transplant has also been linked to what happens afterwards. Higher pre-transplant fitness has been associated with fewer days in hospital and better quality of life after transplant.²

In a study of people with multiple myeloma undergoing stem cell transplantation, physical activity was associated with less comorbidity, better treatment tolerance and improved response to treatment.³

These are associations, not guarantees. But arriving stronger can mean getting home sooner.


3. Support your immune function

Your transplant depends on your immune system, so how well it is working going in matters.

In a study of people with multiple myeloma, markers of T-cell exhaustion were lower after a physical activity intervention.⁴ T-cell exhaustion is when immune cells become less effective at doing their job. Exercise appears to be one way of supporting healthier immune cell function.

A better-functioning immune system means you are better placed to get through treatment and benefit from it.


4. Manage side effects, including fatigue

Cancer-related fatigue is one of the most persistent symptoms for people with blood cancers. The current ASCO and Society for Integrative Oncology guideline on managing fatigue in adults living with and beyond cancer recommends exercise as a first-line approach.⁵

Exercise can also help with other side effects of treatment, including neuropathy, shortness of breath, pain and low mood.

If fatigue feels like it rules exercise out, it does not have to. Sometimes we start with just 10 minutes. That still counts, and we build from there.


5. Get back to what you love, sooner

The aim is not just to get through transplant. It is to recover the things that matter afterwards: work, family, sport, travel and everyday life.

Better physical function going in helps you rebuild faster coming out, and it gives you something active and positive to focus on while you wait.


What does prehabilitation look like at Valere Health?

At Valere Health, our Accredited Exercise Physiologists in Birsbane work with you and your treating team to plan your program around your treatment, side effects and blood counts. Programs are individually designed, and we work alongside dietetics and MLS laser therapy where they can help manage side effects.

You do not need to be fit already. You just need to start where you are.

You can't control your diagnosis. You can control what happens next.


Book a free care coordination call to find out how we can help. Book your call


"It’s given me real confidence heading into the transplant, and a positive attitude I didn’t have when I was first diagnosed.”


John, 67, MDS. Prehab with Valere before his transplant."


John, 77 MDS - prior to transplant
John, 77 MDS - prior to transplant

References

  1. Muscle mass and survival study. Leukemia Research. 2023. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145212623000425

  2. Wood WA, Deal AM, Reeve BB, et al. Cardiopulmonary fitness in patients undergoing hematopoietic SCT: a pilot study. Bone Marrow Transplant. 2013;48(10):1342-1349. doi:10.1038/bmt.2013.58

  3. Möller MD, Ihorst G, Pahl A, Scheubeck S, Barsch F, Dold SM, Bertz H, Arends J, Wäsch R, Engelhardt M. Physical activity is associated with less comorbidity, better treatment tolerance and improved response in patients with multiple myeloma undergoing stem cell transplantation. J Geriatr Oncol. 2021;12(4):521-530. doi:10.1016/j.jgo.2020.11.003. PMID: 33223484

  4. Joseph JM, Hillengass M, Cannioto R, Tario JD, Wallace PK, Attwood K, Groman A, Jacobson H, Wittmeyer B, Mohammadpour H, Abrams SI, Moysich KB, Hillengass J. T Cell Exhaustion Markers in Multiple Myeloma Patients are Lower After Physical Activity Intervention. Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk. 2024;24(9):621-628. doi:10.1016/j.clml.2024.04.006. PMID: 38762420

  5. Bower JE, et al. Management of Fatigue in Adult Survivors of Cancer: ASCO-Society for Integrative Oncology Guideline Update. J Clin Oncol. 2024;42:2456-2487. doi:10.1200/JCO.24.00541

This article is general information and does not replace advice from your treating team. Talk to your oncologist or haematologist before starting exercise.

 
 
 

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