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Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Individualisation of Exercise Prescription in Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Sports Medicine - Open, Vol.12, pp.1-13
2026
PMID: 41733868
Appears in Cancer Research Cluster Research Collection
Abstract
Background
The importance of prescribing individualised exercise programs for all people with cancer has been echoed across the literature. However, there is a notable gap in our understanding of how exercise individualisation is applied in oncology research, what the common individualisation practises of exercise prescription for people with cancer are, and the effects of these practises on common symptoms such as fatigue.
Objectives
The aims of this systematic review and meta-analysis were to elucidate the individualisation prescription methods employed in exercise oncology research, determine whether current studies employ best-practice autoregulatory prescription for people with and following treatment for cancer, and conduct subgroup analyses to determine the influence of exercise individualisation methodology on fatigue severity.
Methods
A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Web of Science databases. Studies written in English stating they prescribed any form of ‘individualised’ exercise for people ≥ 18 years with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of cancer were included in this review. Pooled meta-analysis and subgroup meta-analysis were performed using a random-effects model.
Results
Sixty-three studies involving 4472 participants were included. The rationale underpinning why exercise was individualised was predominantly based on objective reasons (41%). Most commonly, exercise was individualised pre-session, and inter-session (25%) via modulation of the exercise prescription, whereby exercise prescriptions were adapted in various heterogenous ways (22%). Autoregulation was only explicitly reported in two (3%) studies. Individualising exercise using subjective reasoning was significantly associated with reduced fatigue severity (SMD = – 0.355, 95% CI – 0.631 to – 0.079; p = 0.0116). Timing exercise individualisation inter-session had a moderate and significant pooled effect on reducing fatigue severity (SMD = – 0.616, 95% CI – 0.962 to – 0.271; p = 0.0005).
Conclusions
This review highlights most exercise oncology studies individualise exercise at baseline only, with this being broadly reported via modulation of the exercise prescription, which may not meet the needs of people with cancer, given their often-fluctuating symptoms and clinical status. Fatigue severity may be reduced by individualising exercise prescription using subjective assessments and by timing the individualisation between sessions.
Protocol registration: The original protocol was registered with the Open Science Framework on 28 April 2022 (https://osf.io/d6tkv/).
Details
- Title
- Individualisation of Exercise Prescription in Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
- Authors
- Brent Cunningham (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine CoastJamie E. Chong - The University of QueenslandCiaran M. Fairman - University of South CarolinaMatthew D. Jones - UNSW SydneyTina L. Skinner - University of the Sunshine CoastGrace L. Rose - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication details
- Sports Medicine - Open, Vol.12, pp.1-13
- Publisher
- SpringerOpen
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.1186/s40798-026-00980-8
- ISSN
- 2198-9761
- PMID
- 41733868
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- The datasets generated analysed with R studio and script are available in the Open Science Framework repository, [https://osf.io/d6tkv/]. All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and its supplementary information files].
- Organisation Unit
- Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; School of Health; Cancer Research Cluster; School of Health - Sports & Exercise Science
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991217651902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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