Research overwhelmingly shows that specialised, prescribed exercise is a crucial component of cancer recovery. A targeted rehabilitation program can help you:

• Reduce Side Effects: Alleviate and improve your tolerance to treatment-related side effects like fatigue, nausea, and joint pain.
• Improve Treatment Tolerance: Better manage the effects of chemotherapy and hormone therapy.
• Speed Up Recovery: Return to your daily activities and feel more like ‘yourself’ sooner.
• Decrease Fatigue: One of the most common side effects, fatigue can be effectively managed with targeted, gentle exercise.
• Boost Quality of Life: Regain confidence, improve mobility, and enhance your overall well-being.
• Lower Health Risks: Improve long-term mortality outcomes and decrease co-morbidities.

Our Comprehensive Approach to Cancer Rehab in Bunbury

At Aspire Physiotherapy, your rehabilitation is multifaceted and completely tailored to you. Your personalised program may include a combination of the following:

• Manual Physiotherapy: Hands-on treatment to improve range of motion, manage scarring, treat cording (Axillary Web Syndrome), and assist with lymphoedema.
• Physical & Functional Assessments: We establish a baseline by assessing your strength, balance, flexibility, and limb volume to identify factors limiting your function.
• Individualised Clinical Pilates: A safe and effective way to improve core strength, mobility, posture, and bone density.
• Fatigue Management: We teach you practical pacing strategies, breathing techniques, and introduce gentle resistance training proven to reduce fatigue.
• Resistance Training: Helps improve chemotherapy tolerance, manage side effects, build strength, and protect bone density.
• Tailored Exercise Prescription: We design a program you enjoy—whether it’s based on Pilates, gym work, or yoga—to maintain fitness and prevent deconditioning during treatment.
• Breathing Exercises: Stress and treatment can negatively impact breathing patterns. We help you restore proper technique to improve energy levels, sleep, and mental health.

Your Rehabilitation Journey: The 4 Phases

The PINC & STEEL programs are structured into four phases. You will progress through them at your own pace, depending on your condition, surgery type, and treatment schedule.

1. Pre-Op Phase: Before your surgery, we conduct an assessment to prepare you. This includes strengthening exercises, improving stamina, and providing education to optimise your recovery.
2. Post-Op Phase: Soon after surgery, the focus is on healing. We use manual therapy and gentle, modified exercises to restore strength and flexibility to affected areas, helping you recover safely.
3. Adjuvant Cancer Treatment Phase: During chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or hormone therapy, our goal is to help you maintain your health and energy. We work to manage fatigue, preserve muscle mass, and minimise functional decline.
4. Fitness Phase: Once your main treatments are complete, we focus on building your overall fitness and stamina. This phase is designed to improve cardiovascular health, strength, and endurance, helping you fully return to work, sport, and the life you love.