Rehabilitation Oncology

On this episode, Marco Cotti and Mattia Morri, physical therapists in Bologna, Italy, join us to discuss their observational study of physical capacity changes and recovery immediately following wedge resection for bone tumor metastases and in the year after. 

On this episode, Dr. Anne Fleischer and Dr. Jan Struhar join us to discuss the current state of referrals to cancer rehabilitation. Who is making referrals? What factors are they considering? When in the continuum of care are referrals to cancer rehabilitation being made? 

On this special Ask the Authors episode, Paula Ospina, a PhD candidate, shares insights about her team's protocol paper detailing an enhanced hybrid delivery physical therapy program for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. 

On this episode, Dr. Laura Gilchrist discusses her team's pilot study assessing the feasibility of a phone-based ecological momentary assessment application for remote screening of neuropathic symptoms and falls. Could this technology support early identification of CIPN and prevention of falls? 

On this episode, Dr. Hadas Ofek discusses a new, mechanism-based therapeutic approach to ease symptoms of CIPN. Using both patient-reported measures and measures of physical function, her team assessed the feasibility and effectiveness of a short sensory retraining physiotherapy treatment course for individuals experiencing CIPN. 

On this special Ask the Authors episode, Drs. David Doubblestein and Linda Koehler join us to discuss the non-manual lymphatic drainage narrative, why it's never been about the volume, and the evidence supporting MLD as a critical component of complete decongestive therapy for lymphedema. Don't throw MLD out with the volume! 

On this episode, physical therapist Cheryl Brunelle joins us to discuss her study, partially supported by the Foundation for Physical Therapy Research, in which she and her team analyzed agreement between commonly used breast cancer-related lymphedema diagnostic thresholds.  

On this episode, Emma Gomes, a PhD student in the Physical Activity for Treatment and Prevention Lab at Colorado State University, joins us to discuss her team's investigation of the immediate effects of videoconference exercise sessions on fatigue and energy among survivors of cancer.  

On this special Ask the Authors episode, Dr. Kathy Lyons and Dr. Jarrad Van Stan join us to discuss the Rehabilitation Treatment Specification System and their article from the October issue of Rehab Onc. We'll discuss how intentional and transparent reporting of cancer rehabilitation interventions can help advance our field with implications for both research and clinical practice. 

On this episode, Dr. Lynn Tanner joins us to discuss her team's systematic review investigating factors related to rehabilitation adherence in pediatric cancer. Dr. Tanner discusses why adherence is a critical measure for rehabilitation research and clinical practice for both pediatric and adult populations, including challenges and opportunities to enhance care for the pediatric oncology population.

On this episode, Dr. Michael Robinson joins us to discuss his recent perspective piece detailing a striking healthcare disparity that exists regarding melanoma detection among people of color. Although non-Hispanic White individuals are diagnosed with melanoma at 30x the rate of Black individuals, Black individuals die from melanoma at nearly 9x the rate compared to non-Hispanic White individuals. Dr. Robinson helps shine a light on factors that contribute to this disparity and the role that we, as PTs, can play addressing it. 

On this episode, Dr. Marisa Perdomo joins us to discuss the framework her team developed for breast cancer-related lymphedema education across the survivorship continuum. Dr. Perdomo discusses key components of BCRL education including what needs to be taught, who should be teaching it, and considerations for when in the continuum may be the best time. 

On this episode, Dr. Victor Leite of Sao Paolo, Brazil, joins us to discuss the results of his team's survey assessing rehabilitation practices during hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at major cancer centers in the United States. Dr. Leite discusses results including how patients are referred to rehabilitation services, how outcomes are objectively measured, and how safety is maintained during rehabilitation. 

This special episode accompanies the January 2024 issue of Rehabilitation Oncology; a special issue focusing on exercise in oncology rehabilitation. On this episode, special issue guest editor, Dr. Steve Morris, joins us to discuss the current state of exercise oncology and the far-reaching implications of the articles within this impactful issue. 

This episode accompanies the January 2024 issue of Rehabilitation Oncology; a special issue focusing on physical activity in the context of oncology rehabilitation. On this episode, Alexander Brooks, a PhD Candidate from the Exercise Oncology Laboratory in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina discusses his study which examined changes in objective and patient-reported measures of physical function following an 8-week exercise oncology program. 

On this special Ask the Authors episode of the Rehabilitation Oncology Podcast, Drs. Gabriele Moriello and Kristina Kuil discuss their systematic review of randomized controlled trials assessing mind-body therapy interventions for informal caregivers of individuals with cancer.

On this episode of the Rehabilitation Oncology Podcast, Dr. Jenna Smitch-Turchyn discusses social support and its role in physical activity for individuals living beyond a cancer diagnosis. We take a deeper dive into Dr. Smith-Turchyn's scoping review which examined the literature regarding the use, parameters, matching characteristics, and effectiveness of partner-based peer support physical activity interventions for survivors of cancer.

On this special Ask the Authors episode of the Rehabilitation Oncology Podcast, Drs. David Doubblestein and Bryan Spinelli discuss the use of outcome measures among certified lymphedema therapists and the importance of selecting outcome measures to comprehensively assess all domains of an individual's function. 

On this episode of the Rehabilitation Oncology Podcast, Drs. Clark Dickerson and Jacquelyn Maciukiewicz discuss how they examined specific factors that differentiate groups of breast cancer survivors and how those factors may influence shoulder function after treatment for breast cancer. 

In this special episode of the Rehabilitation Oncology Podcast, we present our first ever 'Ask the Authors' panel discussion. Authors Mallory Mark, Janae Finley, and Jill Binkley discuss the motivation behind their timely article and lead a discussion on the current landscape of disparities in cancer survivorship care as well as the individual responsibilities of physical therapists to reduce disparities in cancer survivorship and the steps we can all take in our communities toward this goal.  

In this episode of the Rehabilitation Oncology Podcast, Drs. Jill Mayer and Kayleigh Plumeau discuss the impact of weekly phone calls, made by a physical therapist, on outcomes (e.g., physical function, quality of life, fatigue) and home exercise program adherence for survivors of cancer early in their recovery.

Host Dr. Steve Morris speaks with study lead investigator Helen Mackie about her important findings related to compensatory lymphatic drainage in lower extremity lymphedema, particularly among those with a history of cancer. The findings of this study suggest support for manual lymph drainage to move lymph to the contralateral inguinal drainage region.

Joy Cohn, PT, provides insights into the newest APTA Oncology clinical practice guideline for screening and assessing cancer-related fatigue. Valuable information on which tools are best to use and how to implement the clinical practice guideline are discussed with podcast host, Dr. Stephen Morris.

Dr. Lisa Wood Magee and Dr. Stephen Wechsler present exciting findings about how cancer-related fatigue can result in physical impairments among those treated for cancer, and the need to address this through exercise aimed at large muscle groups of the lower extremity.

Dr. Mary Hidde discusses the role of high intensity interval training for reducing cancer-related fatigue with an emphasis on moving evidence into clinical practice.

In this Rehabilitation Oncology Podcast episode, Dr. Steve Morris interviews author and researcher Dr. Nicole Stout about oncology physical therapy specialty practice. Dr. Stout outlines the expectations for future clinical specialists and presents a call to action to the rehabilitation team to utilize oncology clinical specialists beyond clinical roles to expand their influence on providing best practice care to the individual with cancer.

Podcast Editor Dr. Stephen Morris leads a discussion with Dr. Patricia Bamonti about her work investigating the role depression plays in moderating physical functional levels among individuals diagnosed with cancer. The discrepancy between self-reported physical function and objective physical performance measures is also discussed.  The authors conclude that it is essential that individuals with cancer need comprehensive assessment of physical function in addition to depression symptoms.

Dr. Mackenzi Pergolotti answers questions posed by Podcast Editor Dr. Stephen Morris about her work examining the effect of community-based rehabilitation on patient-reported outcomes and physical functioning.  This work highlights the importance of cancer rehabilitation for those treated for cancer, and how rehabilitation improves function and overall health-related quality of life.  The authors suggest that collaboration between outpatient facilities and academic cancer centers can provide opportunities to address gaps in the evidence base as well as address unmet cancer rehabilitation needs.

This episode features a discussion between the authors and Rehabilitation Oncology highlighting the importance of moving evidence into clinical practice through implementation science frameworks.  The Knowledge-to-Action (KTA) and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) provide guidance on how clinicians can make changes in practice that reflect the evidence database. 

This episode discusses a quasi-experimental repeated pre-post design to evaluate attitudes, awareness and behaviors of nursing and physical therapy students during a simulated end of Life experience.

This episode discusses an Executive Summary of Reports from an International Multidisciplinary Roundtable on Exercise and Cancer: Evidence, Guidelines, and Implementation.

This episode discusses a prospective observational study of community dwelling people 50 years of age or greater in the United States with a history of cancer using data from the Health and Retirement Study. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between cognitive function, gait speed, balance, and falls in older cancer survivors. Results indicate that cognitive function, specifically executive function, is associated with falls and mobility in older cancer survivors.

This case report examined the effect of a 24-session PT intervention aimed at decreasing chronic pain and opioid weaning for a 64-year-old patient at a multidisciplinary AIDS clinic in Atlanta, Georgia. The PT intervention focused on pain mitigation, utilizing using pain-relief techniques such as a home TENS unit, home stretching regimen, diaphragmatic breathing techniques. In this complex chronic pain case with a patient on chronic opioid therapy, multidisciplinary communication is key in successful management. To truly address opiate weaning in the context of pain management, physical therapists' expertise in pain management should ideally be complemented by close communication with the patient's primary medical provider.

Behavioral Change Strategies to Improve Physical Activity After Cancer Treatment

This systematic review reports latest evidence related to physical therapy based interventions in patients with cancer diagnoses who experience chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy. Treatment approaches included closed chain lower extremity strengthening, interactive, sensor based balance training, and strength and endurance training. There were limitations in study design and number of subjects, but all studies showed benefit in terms of balance, function, and quality of life.

This episode presents predictors for performing self-care in females with secondary lymphedema. Factors as low well-being, body-image, near relations, quality of sleep, difficulty to accept having lymphedema and other ethnicities than national seems to be important. Many of the women perform self-care but still many of them does not think that it helps. The results facilitate more identification and extra support for these women.

This episode discusses the development of a clinical practice guideline as an introduction to the CPG on diagnosing secondary upper quadrant lymphedema due to cancer that has been developed for the Oncology section of the APTA. The important psychometric properties of diagnostic tests are reviewed and the quality ratings of the evidence are discussed. Lastly, the use of CPGs in reviewing your practice is addressed.

This episode discusses the recommendations from the Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) on diagnosing secondary upper quadrant lymphedema due to cancer. Based on the evidence in the CPG there is no one diagnostic tool that can be used definitively to diagnose SUQL, but using these recommendations can facilitate early identification and should lead to an examination of activity and participation restrictions and appropriate.

Recent national opioid campaigns are important steps to reducing opioid abuse but they may have significant, unintentional, and adverse consequences on the medical management of patients with advanced cancers or those receiving hospice and palliative care. This commentary describes the role of the physical therapist in the palliative symptom management of terminally ill individuals during this paradigm shift in opioid prescribing practices.