SynthesisSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2023
The role of exercise for pain management in adults living with and beyond cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Updated systematic review of the effects of exercise on understudied health outcomes in cancer survivors.Cancer medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Multimodal Rehabilitation for Advanced Cancer Pain: a Narrative Review of Emerging Nonpharmacological Strategies.Current oncology reports · 2026Review
- Article
- Respiratory muscle training reduces painful swallowing and opioid use during radiation therapy for head and neck cancer: a matched pair analysis.BMC cancer · 2025Article
- Efficacy of a Supervised Exercise Program on Pain, Physical Function, and Quality of Life in Patients With Breast Cancer: Protocol for a Randomized Clinical Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Applications of Robotic Exoskeletons as Motion-Assistive Systems in Cancer Rehabilitation.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2025Review
- Article
- Bibliometric Analysis of Research on Exercise Intervention for Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairments.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Pain Management in Cancer Patients: The Effectiveness of Digital Game-based Interventions: A Rapid Literature Review.Healthcare informatics research · 2024Article
- Biofeedback-Based Proprioceptive Training to Improve Functional Prerequisites of Dragon Boating in Breast Cancer Survivors.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2024Article
- Physical exercise recommendations for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia based on individual preferences identified in a large international patient survey study of the East German Study Group for Hematology and Oncology (OSHO #97).Frontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- Article
- Central Sensitization in Cancer Survivors and Its Clinical Implications: State of the Art.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPain is a common side effect of cancer or cancer treatment that negatively impacts biopsychosocial wellbeing and quality of life. Exercise is a potential intervention to manage pain that is safe and has multiple benefits. The objective was to determine the role of exercise in cancer pain management.
methodsWe completed a systematic review and meta-analysis of exercise interventions in adults with any type or stage of cancer by searching Ovid MEDLINE®, Embase, APA PsycInfo, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, and SPORTDiscus. We included experimental and quasi-experimental designs where pain was measured as an outcome. Data synthesis included narrative and tabular summary. A meta-analysis was performed on studies powered to detect the effect of exercise on pain. Study quality was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool and certainty of evidence was evaluated using the GRADE tool.
resultsSeventy-six studies were included. Studies were predominantly conducted in breast cancer and exercise usually included a combination of aerobic and strength training. Ten studies were included in the meta-analysis demonstrating a significant effect for exercise in decreasing pain (estimated average standard mean difference (SMD) was g = - 0.73 (95% CI: - 1.16 to - 0.30)); however, the overall effect prediction interval was large. Overall risk of bias for most studies was rated as some concerns and the grading of evidence certainty was low.
conclusionThere are limitations in the evidence for exercise to manage cancer-related pain. Further research is needed to understand the role of exercise in a multimodal pain management strategy.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.