For people living with and beyond cancer, being active is important and can help with recovery and rehab, including improving quality of life. Local opportunities range from specialist Cancer Rehab exercise sessions to home exercise options. Find something that suits you and your needs, and if you are new to exercise start to build up your activity levels gradually.
For information on exercising safely when you have cancer, visit the Macmillan website.
This webpage contains the following information: Cancer Rehab, other community sessions, home exercise, sources of support, health professional resources.
Specialist group exercise – Cancer Rehab
Cancer Rehab is a programme of exercise sessions for people affected by cancer. If you are pre-treatment, undergoing treatment or have completed your cancer treatment, then this programme is available to you via a GP or health professional referral. Our CanRehab exercise instructors are specialists and will give you plenty of advice and support. They also adapt the exercises to suit your needs and help you achieve your goals.
How to join:
- Ask your GP or health professional for a referral.
- Once you have a completed referral form – Contact the venue of your choice to book in for your first session.
- Pre-register before your first session – Pre-registering will save time at the beginning of your first session, alternatively you will complete a registration form on the day. Use this link to pre-register.
For further information please view our latest Cancer Rehab Information Leaflet.
Community exercise sessions
There is a varied programme of local community physical activity sessions in Solihull, including:
- Gentle Exercise Opportunities – There’s lots to try including Tai Chi, dance, yoga, walking sports, table tennis, seated exercise and much more.
- Walking Groups – Enjoy your local area, meet new people and improve your health with one of the local walking groups.
- Swimming and other aquatic activities are available at various pools across the borough. This factsheet from Swim England explains how you can take part in swimming and other aquatic activities, during and after treatment for cancer.
- My Solihull Map – Find other community activities, groups and organisations near you.
Exercising at home
If you prefer to exercise at home or are looking to supplement your other community activities with home-based exercise then here are a selection of resources to help:
- Breast Cancer Now – If you’ve had breast cancer treatment, exercise and physical activity can benefit you in many ways. Get ideas on where to start and how to build healthy habits with this guide and take a look at the exercise videos to help you get started. You can also download their leaflet Exercises after breast cancer surgery.
- Prostate Cancer UK shares physical activity advice and personal stories.
- Leukaemia Care includes physical activity recommendations and workout videos.
- We Are Undefeatable is a campaign supporting people with long-term health conditions to be more active. You can find additional information about how to get started, ways to move, and read inspiring stories from others with long-term conditions. There is also a YouTube playlist of Make Your Move short exercise videos.
More home exercise opportunities can also be found on our Move More @ Home webpage.
How exercise can help at different treatment stages
- During cancer treatment regular exercise improves or prevents the decrease in physical function. This helps you to do daily tasks more easily, without increasing fatigue.
- After cancer treatment being active helps recover physical ability to do daily tasks and function well.
- During and after treatment, exercise can reduce the risk of cancer coming back and mortality for some cancers. Also, exercise can reduce the risk of developing other long-term health conditions.
- Additional advice and guidance for exercise and cancer can be found in this Moving Medicine factsheet
Health Professionals Information
These documents are specifically for health professionals to help refer local patients into the Cancer Rehab Exercise Scheme. All referrals must be signed off by clinical staff working for either a local GP surgery or UHB NHS Foundation Trust.