Breaking Barriers: Could Exercise Supervision Attenuate Kinesiophobia in an Older Cancer Patient?

Background: Kinesiophobia, the fear that movement and physical activity could worsen side effects such as fatigue and pain, is a barrier to exercise in cancer patients. Physical inactivity and deconditioning can lead to functional decline, higher mortality risk and lower quality of life, in older adults, and even more in oncogeriatrics because of a lower physical activity level during cancer treatments. The case: We present the case of an older breast cancer patient recruited in a controlled exercise trial and randomized to the control arm of the study (a 12-week supervised static stretching program). She expressed fear that physical activity might exacerbate some of her cancer-related symptoms during baseline physical capacity assessment (Senior Fitness Test, handgrip strength and maximal lower body strength). After completing the 12-week supervised static stretching program, she exhibited similar and/or larger improvements in many of the physical capacity tests than the mixed exercise intervention group, despite being in the control arm. Conclusions: These observations and physical capacity results have led us to emit the hypothesis that (1) this participant’s baseline physical capacity assessment might have been biased by kinesiophobia and (2) the supervision by exercise physiologist might have mitigated this fear over time. Hence, based on this case, we suggest that kinesiophobia should be measured in future exercise trials and clinical interventions targeting older cancer patients.