Colorectal Cancer & Exercise

A diagnosis of colon or rectal cancer doesn’t just land in your medical file – it lands in your body.  Surgery, chemo, changes to your bowels or stoma, fatigue, muscle loss, fear of moving… it’s a lot.

At CanConquer, we use targeted exercise as medicine to help people with colorectal cancer move, cope, and live better – from first diagnosis, through treatment, and into long-term survivorship. And it’s not guesswork. It’s built on powerful research.

The CHALLENGE Trial: Why Exercise Isn’t “Just Exercise”

Our colorectal cancer program is modelled on the landmark CHALLENGE Trial (2025) – a large study looking at what happens when people with colon cancer take part in a structured, supervised exercise program after treatment.

The results were game-changing. People in the exercise group had:

• Around a 37% reduction in colon cancer deaths
  
• Better disease-free survival (they stayed cancer-free for longer)
  
• Improved physical function – more strength and capacity for everyday life
  
• Greater cardiovascular fitness, supporting long-term heart and metabolic health
  
  

If this “exercise medicine” came in pill form, we’d all line up for it.  It’s not a pill. But it is something we can prescribe in a very specific, evidence-based way.  That’s exactly what CanConquer is built to do.

The CanConquer 3-Stage Colorectal Cancer Pathway

Colorectal cancer isn’t a single moment – it’s a whole timeline.  So our program is designed to support you across three key stages:

1. Train for Treatment (Prehab)

Before surgery or chemo, we focus on getting your body as strong and prepared as possible.

• Targeted aerobic and strength work
  
• Core, pelvic floor and postural support
  
• Education around fatigue, bowel changes and recovery
  
  

Prehab aims to give you more “reserve” going into treatment – so you’ve got a better platform to bounce back from.

2. Move Through Chemo

During chemo (and/or radiation), everything can feel harder – energy, motivation, nausea, bowel changes, neuropathy.

This is where precise, supervised exercise makes a real difference.

• Carefully dosed sessions to manage fatigue, not worsen it
  
• Strength and balance work to protect function and independence
  
• Gentle core and mobility for post-surgical or abdominal stiffness
  
• Emotional support and confidence that you’re not “breaking your body” by moving
  
  

We adjust your program week by week around side-effects, scans, surgeries and how you actually feel when you walk through the door.

3. Stronger Than Before (Survivorship)

When treatment finishes, people often hear, “Great, you’re done – off you go.”  But your body, bowels, energy and headspace can feel anything but “done”.  Our Stronger Than Before phase is about rebuilding for the long game:

• Rebuilding muscle mass lost during treatment
  
• Improving cardiovascular fitness for heart and metabolic health
  
• Addressing ongoing fatigue, pain, and stiffness
  
• Building sustainable exercise habits so movement becomes a normal part of your life again, not a temporary “program”
  
  

The goal isn’t perfection.  It’s momentum – in your body, your confidence, and your life.

What Does a CanConquer Session Actually Look Like?

At CanConquer, exercise doesn’t mean being thrown into a “one-size-fits-all” gym program.  You can expect:

• A thorough assessment, where we listen to your story, your treatment plan and your worries
  
• Simple baseline testing – strength, balance, fitness, surgical/abdominal changes, fatigue levels
  
• A tailored plan that might include:
  
  
• Treadmill or bike intervals at the right intensity for you
  
• Strength work for legs, hips, core and upper body
  
• Balance and coordination if chemo or neuropathy have knocked your confidence
  
• Gentle mobility and scar/abdominal work where appropriate
  
  

We explain the why behind everything, in normal language – not just “3 sets of 10”.  You don’t have to be fit, sporty or confident to start.  You just have to show up as you are.

Who Is the Colorectal CanConquer Program For?

This program is for people with colon or rectal cancer who are:

• Waiting for or preparing for surgery
  
• Going through chemo and/or radiation
  
• Living with a stoma
  
• In follow-up/survivorship and wanting to reduce risk and feel stronger
  
• Struggling with fatigue, muscle loss, bowel or abdominal changes, or fear of moving
  
  

We also work closely with your wider treating team (surgeons, oncologists, nurses, GPs) so exercise sits alongside – not instead of – your medical treatment.

Movement, Medicine and Momentum for Life

Colorectal cancer changes your body.  Targeted exercise can help change it back – and, in some cases, help change your future.

At CanConquer, inside PhysioHealth Corrimal, we’re here to:

• Turn evidence into a clear, practical plan
  
• Turn fear of movement into confidence
  
• Turn treatment into an opportunity to build a stronger, more supported you
  
  

Tutto è possibile – everything is possible.  One carefully designed step at a time.