A longitudinal study of exercise barriers in colorectal cancer survivors participating in a randomized controlled...

The Colorectal Cancer and Home-Based Physical Exercise (CAN-HOPE) trial compared the effects of a 16-week home-based exercise program to usual care on quality of life in colorectal cancer survivors.

In this study, we report the weekly exercise barriers from the exercise group.

Participants randomized to the exercise group (N = 69) were asked to report their exercise on a weekly basis by telephone. Those participants not achieving the minimum weekly exercise prescription (3 times per week of 30 min of moderate intensity exercise) were asked for a primary exercise barrier.

We obtained 1,073 (97.2%) weeks of adherence data out of a possible 1,104 (i.e., 69 x 16). Participants did not meet the minimum exercise prescription in 39.2% (421/1,073) of the weeks. We obtained an exercise barrier in 83.8% (353/421) of these cases. Overall, participants reported 37 different exercise barriers; the three most common were lack of time/too busy, nonspecific treatment side effects, and fatigue. The top 7 to 10 barriers accounted for 70% to 80% of all missed exercise weeks.

These findings may have utility for promoting exercise in this population both inside and outside of clinical trials.