Breast, lung and colorectal cancers are 3 of the top 4 most common cancers worldwide. Their treatment with chemotherapy often results in adverse effects on quality of life, fatigue and functional exercise capacity amongst patients. Mind-body therapies, including yoga, Tai chi and Qigong, are commonly used as complementary and alternative therapies in cancer. A systematic review by Loughborough University, UK, as reported by Complementary therapies in clinical practice in its November 2023 issue evaluates the effects of yoga, Tai chi and Qigong in alleviating the adverse effects of chemotherapy.
Various databases were systematically interrogated using specific search terms, and 9 manuscripts met the criteria for inclusion in the final meta-analyses. Mean differences were calculated to determine pooled effect sizes using RStudio.
This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to demonstrate significant improvements in fatigue for colorectal cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy with a reduction of -1.40 observed in mind-body therapy intervention groups.
In conclusion, Yoga, Tai chi and Qigong could all be implemented alongside adjuvant therapies to alleviate the adverse effects on colorectal cancer patient fatigue during chemotherapy treatment.
