The Effect of NMES Training in Patients With Hematological Cancer

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Although people with hematological malignancies have to endure long stages of treatment and inactivity that are known to reduce their physical performance levels, it is still common practice to rest and avoid intense exercise. Although physical activity and exercise are important approaches in many ...

Although people with hematological malignancies have to endure long stages of treatment and inactivity that are known to reduce their physical performance levels, it is still common practice to rest and avoid intense exercise. Although physical activity and exercise are important approaches in many diseases, their effects on cancer have been studied recently. There are still not enough studies in this area and it is not widely used. In recent studies, it is thought that exercise may benefit the symptoms that develop due to treatment in cancer patients. Even in the presence of severe myopathy and fatigue, skeletal muscle provides great adaptation when there is an appropriate exercise stimulus. In addition, exercise can increase immune functions, so it is thought that exercise practices in hematological cancer patients can specifically improve cellular functions such as microbial phagocytosis, T-cell proliferation, vaccine response, and killing tumor cells. There are various studies and approaches that try to create a different strategy and include physical exercise in the treatment strategy of hematological malignancies. These exercise programs generally include aerobics, flexibility and resistance training methods. The necessity of developing alternative methods to exercise is emphasized in the literature due to the development of complications that affect participation in basic exercise such as walking. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has proven efficacy in improving muscle strength in a variety of populations. NMES training also has applicability for the cancer population to prevent treatment-related complications and improve health-related quality of life. However, there is still no high-level evidence to support the administration of NMES in cancer patients. It is known that the use of corticosteroids, which are among the drugs given during chemotherapy applications, causes steroid myopathy. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of NMES applications on muscle strength in hematological cancer patients who developed steroid myopathy during chemotherapy. In addition, we aimed to evaluate the effect of NMES training on fatigue, mobility and quality of life in hematological cancer patients.

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