53 The increasing awareness of

the benefits and suitability of Tai Ji Quan for older adults has piqued the interest of practitioners and researchers in determining whether Tai Ji Quan might be similarly effective at preventing adverse outcomes related to chronic diseases and their treatments, because Tai Ji Quan might be a form of exercise that their often debilitated patients can safely participate in. There are a growing number of studies involving Tai Ji Quan in cancer survivors, but they remain relatively few in number, range vastly in methodologic quality, examine widely differing outcomes (mostly by self-report), and target diverse samples of patients that vary in cancer type and treatments.54 In fact, there are virtually no controlled trials that have examined the potential benefits of Tai Ji Quan on risk factors associated with PD173074 mw disability, falls, or CVD in cancer survivors. Mustian et al.55 reported that 12 weeks of Tai Ji Quan improved aerobic capacity and muscle strength better than a psychotherapy support group program in breast cancer survivors, while two controlled trials of Tai Ji Quan in breast cancer survivors failed reduce markers of inflammation and/or insulin resistance, though these studies had quite small www.selleckchem.com/products/Adrucil(Fluorouracil).html sample sizes.56 and 57 In a small

sample of post-surgical, non-small cell lung cancer survivors (n = 27), 16 weeks of Tai Ji Quan favorably altered immune cell ratios compared to no exercise, providing some suggestion of a beneficial effect on immune function, which has a role in both atherogenesis and carcinogenesis. 58 Clearly, there is an abundance of opportunities to examine the potential benefits of Tai Ji Quan to address major concerns facing cancer survivors, including those that are the focus of this review. There have been no controlled trials examining the potential efficacy of fall prevention

exercise programs that are known to reduce fall risk in older adults in reducing the risk of falls that are linked to cancer treatment. We are currently conducting the GET FIT (Group 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase Exercise Training for Functional Improvement after Treatment; ClinicalTrials.govNCT01635413) trial that aims to compare the efficacy of two distinct types of exercise, Tai Ji Quan versus strength training, which are known to prevent falls in older adults without cancer, to determine whether or not they also prevent falls in women who have completed treatment for cancer.41 The GET FIT trial will be the first to examine whether Tai Ji Quan and/or strength training reduces falls in women cancer survivors who are at higher fall risk because of chemotherapy.