A tailored physical activity intervention and exercise prescription to improve clinical practice for onco-hematology inpatients

Introduction Therapy of hematological malignancies persists for a long time and involves in various complications. The main consequences of chemotherapy are fatigue and forced bed rest, due to immunodeficiency secondary to the treatment that, in turn, also contributes to in impairment of physical efficiency. Physical activity and structure exercise programs can prevent this weakening through the improvement of aerobic capacity and muscle strength, thus this investigation aimed to determine the beneficial role of exercise in the maintenance of the physical function in onco-hematology inpatients. Methods The study included onco-hematology patients, who were administered a tailored exercise protocol during their hospitalization. Interven- tion was mainly focused for the development of strength and flexibility; exercise sessions were directly performed in the patients’ own hospital room. Exercise program was supervised by an Exercise Specialist and driven by audio-video support. Intervention group was compared with control group, which remained physically inactive for all period of hospitalization. Results The intervention group did not show significant decreases during hospitalization period. Significant changes were found in flexibility performance and in balance control (p <0.05). On the contrary, strength had a significant decrease in the control group. Discussion Results from this investigation showed that a tailored exercise protocol administered to hospitalized onco-hematology patients is feasible and efficient to promote the maintenance of their physical function. Moreover, results indicated a beneficial effect of the exercise counter- acting side effects of chemotherapy treatments with a concurrent reduction in bed rest syndrome.