Thrive Cancer Resilience

27/01/2024

13/12/2023

9 reasons why Physiotherapists should be involved in helping people affected by cancer to thrive.

1. HELP PREVENT UNNECESSARY DISABILITY - The number of people living longer and surviving cancer is growing, however these people may be living with long-term side effects of the disease and treatment, which make them feel they haven’t ‘beaten’ cancer at all. Side effects may be visible during or very soon after treatment, or they may take months and years to be seen. Many of these side effects can significantly affect quality of life. Oncology Physiotherapists can help minimise the risk of short and long-term side effects and help prevent unnecessary disability.

2. SUPPORT EFFECTIVE SELF-MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TO MAINTAIN HEALTH - Physiotherapists have a very important educational role during and after cancer treatments to help people understand how they can help themselves. Cancer treatments are tough but are more manageable when people know what to expect and are given good advise on all the things they can do to maximise their own recovery. Ongoing education throughout cancer treatment is also vital to heighten the patient’s awareness of the potential late effects from treatment and to promote a proactive approach to their diagnosis and treatment. In addition, Physiotherapists work to reinforce health-promoting behaviours such as exercise, weight control and physical activity and help their patients take positive steps for their future health and wellbeing.

3. RESTORE MOVEMENT AND FUNCTION - Oncology Physiotherapists are experts in restoring movement and function to people affected by cancer. However, it doesn't stop there. There is also strong evidence supporting rehabilitation and exercise not only helping people physically but also emotionally, vocationally and socially.

4. HELP MANAGE FATIGUE, DURING AND AFTER TREATMENT - Oncology Physiotherapists are experienced in the management of fatigue during and after cancer treatment. It is very important to manage fatigue symptoms; to provide adequate support for people remaining at work as well as returning to work. There is also an abundance of evidence that regular moderate exercise can decrease feelings of tiredness, lack of energy and fatigue.

5. ASSIST THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RECOVERY - There is an emotional toll that cancer survivors face in addition to the physical one. A cancer diagnosis can cause depression, anger, anxiety, fear and stress. Proper breathing techniques, stretching, reassurance and education can help improve psychological recovery.

6. PREVENT FURTHER DEGENERATION OF HEALTH - If symptoms are not managed throughout treatment there is a greater risk a patient will have problems coping. The combined burden from treatments and lack of physical activity can cause de-conditioning, which can further exacerbate fatigue and lead to a longer road to recovery. Oncology Physiotherapists can help patients overcome the significant physical and functional impairments suffered after cancer surgery and treatments that act as major barriers to resuming physical activity.

7. ASSIST, TREAT AND SUPPORT PATIENTS THROUGH EVERY STAGE OF THEIR TREATMENT AND RECOVERY - Opportunities for physiotherapists to screen for and treat impairments in cancer patients begin shortly after diagnosis and continue even years after the completion of cancer treatment. Our care continuum includes prehabilitation (interventions designed to increase function prior to surgery or treatment), rehabilitation during acute cancer care, rehabilitation after acute cancer care and rehabilitation of patients with cancer as a chronic condition.

8. DELIVER SAFE AND EFFECTIVE EXERCISE PROGRAMS - The thought of exercise can be overwhelming to people affected cancer, but a well-designed exercise program may help them feel better physically and mentally, and it may also decrease the risk of further disease. Numerous studies show that being physically active appears to improve survival and quality of life. Patients are at increased risk of osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, functional decline and cancer recurrence. Exercise helps to mitigate the side effects of cancer treatment and surgery.

9. REDUCE AND DECELERATE THE IMPACT OF A RANGE OF SYMPTOMS - Physiotherapy rehabilitation services can help patients:
* maintain their independence;
* increase their strength, range of motion, functional status, and physical activity levels;
* manage their fatigue, and pain;
* restore bowel and bladder function, and
* help people return to work, sport and activities they love.

Cancer Rehabilitation is very rewarding work for physiotherapists to be involved in and they truly make a big difference to people's lives.

To find out more about Oncology Rehabilitation Education for Physiotherapists visit https://www.pincandsteeleducation.com/arlo/

Applications for the 2024 certification courses are now open.

11/12/2023

ACCEPT OR NOT TO ACCEPT!
9th December 2023


Acceptance is such a vital part of life.
How do you know when to accept something or when to reject it and go your own way?
When I look at my past, I see that acceptance has certainly played a leading role in the production of Gaynor Young’s life.

For those of you that don’t know, I was an actress.
I was the understudy for Guinevere in Camelot and on the 9th December 1989, my hopes and dreams seemed to come true. The actress playing the lead lost her voice. I was scheduled to go on that Saturday afternoon and evening. I took to the stage without ever having had a dress or a technical rehearsal. Apparently, during the performance, I was brilliant! Then just before interval, I was meant to exit the stage during a black out, have an incredibly quick change and be ready for the next scene. I must have stepped the wrong way because I felt down an unguarded lift shaft,18 metres to the ground below.

I suffered terrible brain damage and was disabled.
I spent seven weeks in hospital and when I left my parents were advised by the specialist to: “Put Gaynor into an institution. She is never going to be able to do anything but lie on her back staring mindlessly at the ceiling.”
This is where “to accept or not to accept” comes in.

My parents could not accept that I was to be institutionalised and so they made plans for me to go home with them to George.
And so my new life began.

But…I could not accept who I now was.
I hated this new, unfamiliar, disabled Gaynor.

I had no hearing in my left ear and in my right I had less than 2% so I wore a hearing aid. I grew my hair to cover it. Perish the thought that people were aware of my deafness. My spasticity was clearly evident when I used my right hand so I became left handed and tried to keep my right hand behind my back or in a pocket. I was desperate to hide the…the uglyness…of the new me.

Eighteen months after my fall, I made my way to the dressing room to see a cast after their performance. I had not been able to hear a thing but that was something I wouldn’t admit to. They greeted me warmly with grease painted hugs. But I was unable to understand much of what they were saying although my lip reading had improved in leaps and bounds. I should have said to them: “I can’t hear you. When you speak to me, let me hold you under your chin because then I can feel your voice vibrations. That’s a big help!”
Instead I acted as if I could hear them and nodded my head smiling brightly.
“So, Gaynor, who bought you here tonight?”
Big laugh from me: “Yes, yes!”
Glory be!
I had acted at that theatre and I looked across at the place where I used to do my makeup. I ached. Dressing rooms have a smell all their own and this one seemed to cry out at me. I left that evening wanting to weep. I didn’t belong anymore.
I found accepting that so difficult.

Two years after my accident, I attended a school for the brain damaged in Johannesburg, Headway. It was brimming with patients who had brain injuries and were disabled.
Like me.
I began to truly look at my compatriots and found myself liking them. I formed friendships. It was as if I had stepped through a door and breathed in this wonderful scent. It was a new and unexpected fragrance. Here I was, the unaccepting Gaynor accepting the friendship of someone who was…gasp…brain damaged and disabled!!! Vee Murphy, my Psychotherapist worked closely with me. She dealt with my anger and oh, so many tears. And for the first time I accepted the fact that I was disabled.

It was at Headway that I learned to accept the new Gaynor.

This new Gaynor is incredibly fortunate to now have Cochlear Implants in her life. When I wear them I can hear amazingly. It is only when something is taken away that you realise it’s true worth. As you all well know, I have my music back once more. I have this amazing little machine called: Alexa. When I say to Alexa: “Alexa, please could you play some Eva Cassidy” instantly she launches into Fields of Gold. I have Alexa connected to my inverter so that whenever we have an outage, Alexa comes into play! With my 40% vision, my sight is incredibly valuable to me. I now ‘see’ so much. I point out the shapes and colours of things to my best friend, B and she sees them as if for the first time.

Walking behind my dog, Leah in the Botanical Gardens, I watch her dart here and there, racing against the air brushing her soft fur. She streaks ahead, around trees, into bushes and inevitably plunges into a little muddy pond. The grass has recently been cut and everything feels fresh and clean. I gaze up at the beauty of the mountains towering in front of me and I give my God a salute for His masterful Creation and thanks for me being me! I usually walk practically up to the top gate and then turn around and walk back. All in all it’s about 2 kilometres that I walk there most days of the week.

I accept that I walk with a limp on my braced leg, but I want to do a Julie Andrews Sound of Music cabriole-like kick to the side at the glory of being able to walk! When I think back over my past, whoever would have thought that I would be doing this walk every day with my gorgeous little dog?

Today, 9th December 2023, it is 34 years since that young woman fell from that stage and like Alice In Wonderland discovered herself in another life. It is totally different life to what I had planned. But I am not a great planner anyway!
I love life!

As I said at the beginning, acceptance and not acceptance are vital parts of life. The secret is to know when to accept and when not to accept.
And that…I accept…makes all the difference!

29/11/2023

Garden designer Lottie Delamain explores the links between gardening and our mental wellbeing, and how the natural world can be a refuge

22/11/2023

Functional Medicine Health Coaches Association - South Africa: Discover personalised guidance & evidence-based practices that address the root causes of health issues. From nutrition & lifestyle adjustments to stress management & movement, we use positive psychology measures to provide a wide range....