Movement During Cancer Care: How Physical Therapy Can Help Patients Preserve Strength, Function, and Connection
A cancer diagnosis can change the way a person experiences their body.
Walking to the mailbox may suddenly feel like a workout. A previously simple flight of stairs may require planning. Fatigue may not improve after a full night of sleep. Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, hormone therapy, and the cancer itself can affect strength, endurance, balance, mobility, sensation, breathing, continence, and confidence.
In these moments, movement should not become another demand placed on the patient.
It should become a conversation.
Physical therapy can help patients understand what their bodies are experiencing, identify meaningful functional goals, and develop a movement plan that is safe, adaptable, and connected to the rest of their cancer care.
The goal is not to tell every patient to “exercise more.”
The goal is to listen carefully and ask:
What does this person need movement to help them do today?
Diabetes, Movement, and the Factors That Change Care - A Physical Therapy Guide to Risk, Exercise, Foot Health, and Better Provider–Patient Connection for the Patient Managing Diabetes
Diabetes is not “just a blood sugar problem.” It affects energy, movement, sensation, circulation, healing, balance, confidence, and the everyday tasks that make people feel like themselves.
In the United States, diabetes and prediabetes are common. Current CDC data estimate that 40.1 million people in the U.S. have diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes, and 115.2 million U.S. adults have prediabetes.
There are several types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is usually related to autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells and insulin deficiency. Type 2 diabetes is commonly related to insulin resistance with progressive loss of adequate insulin secretion. Prediabetes means blood glucose is elevated but not yet in the diabetes range.
Exercise is a major part of diabetes prevention and management. For many adults with or at risk for type 2 diabetes, movement can improve glucose control, cardiovascular health, strength, balance, quality of life, and confidence.
Physical therapists are not medication managers, endocrinologists, or dietitians. But PTs are essential members of the diabetes care team because diabetes changes how people move, heal, load tissue, tolerate activity, and participate in life.
For physical therapists, the goal is not simply to say, “Exercise more.” The goal is to help the patient answer: “What movement is safe for me, what is worth doing, and how do I build a routine I can actually keep?”
Running Form… Conversation Over Correction: A PT-Friendly Guide to Recreational Running, Running Economy, and Injury Rehab
Running is simple until it is not.
A patient walks into the clinic and says, “I think my form is wrong.” Another says, “My knee hurts because I heel strike.” Someone else says, “I just want to run again but don’t know where to start.”
That is where physical therapy gets interesting.
Running rehab is not just about cadence, foot strike, hip strength, or tissue capacity (although all are important). It’s about the conversation between the runner and the clinician. It’s about the relationship between the runner and their body, their mindset, and their confidence. It’s about listening long enough to understand what running means to the person in front of us: stress relief, identity, cardiovascular health, competition, community, or simply thirty quiet minutes alone.
Running form is a movement strategy. And like any strategy, it should match the runner, the injury, the goal, the training history, and the life attached to the legs.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome 2026 Update: What Physical Therapists Need to Know
Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is still one of the most common nerve compression conditions physical therapists see in the clinic. The 2026 Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy (JOSPT) clinical practice guideline update reinforces a practical message: start with a strong exam, listen closely to the patient’s story, use evidence-supported tools, and know when to refer.
For mild to moderate CTS, the strongest physical therapy-supported intervention remains a forearm-based wrist orthosis that keeps the wrist near neutral, usually worn at night. Ergonomic education, activity modification, manual therapy, selected exercise, kinesiology taping, laser therapy, shockwave therapy, interferential current, superficial heat, and diathermy may help some patients, but many of these recommendations are based on weak or limited evidence.
The big clinical reminder: thenar atrophy, objective weakness, sensory loss, progressive symptoms, atypical presentation, or failed conservative care should raise the referral conversation early.
Cold Plunge, Saunas, and Red Light Therapy: Recovery Tools or Wellness Hype?
Cold plunges, saunas, and red light therapy are popular recovery tools—but they are not magic buttons.
For physical therapists, the best use of these modalities is not selling certainty. It is helping patients ask better questions:
What are you trying to recover from?
Is this safe for your health history?
Is it helping you move, sleep, train, or feel better?
Is it replacing something more important, like progressive loading, sleep, nutrition, or medical care?
Sleep: The Conversation We Shouldn’t Sleep On
Sleep is one of those topics patients often bring into the clinic quietly.
Sometimes it sounds like, “I’m just tired.”
Sometimes it sounds like, “My pain is worse at night.”
Sometimes it shows up as poor recall, low motivation, irritability, delayed recovery, or a patient who simply cannot seem to tolerate the plan of care.
And sometimes, all it takes is one question:
“How have you been sleeping?”
For healthcare providers, especially physical therapists and rehabilitation professionals, sleep is not a side conversation. It is connected to pain, tissue healing, immune function, cognition, mood, motor learning, physical activity, function, and overall well-being. The American Physical Therapy Association recognizes physical therapists as part of the interdisciplinary team involved in screening for sleep dysfunction, educating patients about healthy sleep behaviors, addressing impairments that interfere with sleep, and referring to sleep medicine professionals when appropriate.
That does not mean every provider becomes a sleep specialist. It means we become better listeners.
Because when sleep is suffering, the person in front of us may not just need another exercise. They may need a better conversation.
GLP-1 Medications, Weight Loss, and Physical Therapy: What Providers Should Know
GLP-1 receptor agonists and related incretin-based medications, including semaglutide and tirzepatide, can produce substantial weight loss and important cardiometabolic benefits for many patients with obesity and/or type 2 diabetes.
Weight loss from GLP-1 medications usually comes mostly from fat mass, but some fat-free mass and lean mass loss can occur. Current evidence does not support the blanket claim that GLP-1 medications automatically cause frailty or clinically meaningful sarcopenia, but high-risk patients deserve thoughtful monitoring.
Physical therapists should not manage GLP-1 prescriptions, dosing, or medication side effects independently. PTs can, however, screen medication history, monitor functional changes, prescribe progressive exercise, support long-term activity habits, communicate with the prescribing provider, and refer when symptoms fall outside PT scope.
Resistance training, aerobic exercise, adequate recovery, and appropriate nutrition conversations are especially important. APTA recognizes that diet and nutrition are relevant to PT-managed conditions and that PTs may screen and provide general information while referring to dietitians or other qualified providers when care exceeds professional or personal scope.
The best conversation is not “Are GLP-1 medications good or bad?” The better conversation is: How do we help this specific patient preserve function, build strength, stay safe, and remain connected to the right healthcare team?
Exercise Prescription for Providers: Making Movement Meaningful, Measurable, and Actually Doable
Exercise prescription is more than sets, reps, and resistance. For providers, the real clinical art is matching the right dose of movement to the right person, at the right time, in a way they can understand, trust, and actually follow.
❤️ POTS, Dizziness, and a Racing Heart: Why the Conversation Matters
Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, better known as POTS, is a condition involving symptoms of orthostatic intolerance. That means symptoms tend to show up or worsen when someone moves into an upright position, such as sitting or standing, and often improve when lying down.
Commonly reported symptoms can include lightheadedness, dizziness, palpitations, racing heart, fatigue, exercise intolerance, nausea, headache, “brain fog,” weakness, and feeling worse in heat or after prolonged standing.
Symptoms alone do not diagnose POTS.
Many conditions can look similar, including dehydration, anemia, thyroid disease, medication effects, cardiac rhythm problems, orthostatic hypotension, vasovagal syncope, infection, anxiety, deconditioning, and other medical concerns.
For patients, this means:
You are not “making it up,” and you also deserve a careful evaluation.
For providers, this means:
We should validate symptoms, screen thoughtfully, recognize when referral is needed, and help patients build safe, progressive strategies to improve function.
🧠 “More Than Flexible”: Understanding Hypermobility, hEDS, and the Power of Listening
Hypermobility isn’t just “being flexible.” For many patients, it’s a complex, often misunderstood condition that can affect the entire body—not just joints.
Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) can present with chronic pain, fatigue, anxiety, and multisystem symptoms. Diagnosis can take years, and patients often feel dismissed along the way.
The most effective care isn’t just clinical—it’s relational. When providers listen, validate, and collaborate, outcomes improve. Treatment works best when it’s multidisciplinary, patient-centered, and focused on long-term self-management.
Lateral Hip Pain Isn’t Just “Bursitis”: What’s Really Going On (and What Actually Helps)
“Lateral hip pain” is often grouped under Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (GTPS)—not just bursitis.
It commonly affects middle-aged women and is linked to hip tendon irritation, weakness, and movement patterns.
Pain often shows up with walking, stairs, single-leg tasks, or lying on your side.
There’s no single perfect test—it’s about the whole clinical picture.
Treatment works best when it focuses on:
Education (huge)
Load management (avoid irritation early)
Progressive strengthening (especially hip + core)
This is usually a gradual, chronic condition—not something caused by one big injury.
The goal isn’t just to “fix pain”—it’s to restore confidence, movement, and trust in your body.
Low Back Pain Isn’t Just “Getting Older”: What Helps Most
Low back pain is one of the most common reasons people seek healthcare—but it is not simply something you must “live with.” Many cases improve with the right plan, especially one focused on movement, education, exercise, and trust between patient and provider.
Research consistently shows that staying active within tolerance is better than prolonged bed rest, and treatments like physical therapy, exercise, spinal mobilization, yoga, aquatic therapy, and targeted strengthening can help many people.
For providers, one of the most powerful interventions is often the conversation itself: reducing fear, building confidence, explaining prognosis, and helping patients move forward safely.
Exercise Prescription in Heart Failure: A Practical Guide for Clinicians
Exercise training and rehabilitation are essential in heart failure care. Learn how clinicians and rehabilitation professionals can safely prescribe exercise to improve outcomes and quality of life.
Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome (FAIS): What Providers Need to Know About Assessment, Conversations, and Conservative Care
Femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS) is not just an imaging finding. It is a movement-related clinical disorder that requires the combination of symptoms, clinical signs, and imaging findings to support diagnosis. For providers, that distinction matters.
Many active patients—especially younger athletes—may show cam or pincer morphology on imaging without pain. That means our job is not simply to “find a bump” on a radiograph. Our job is to connect the patient’s story, symptom behavior, movement presentation, and goals into a meaningful clinical picture to promote long-term success.
Current guidance supports a multimodal, nonoperative first-line approach for many patients with nonarthritic hip pain and FAIS. This usually includes activity modification, strengthening of the hip and trunk, movement retraining, and patient education. Physical therapy has shown short-term improvements in pain and function, with moderate to large effects reported in systematic review data.
Providers, take note: patients with hip pain often see multiple clinicians before getting a clear explanation. That makes communication an essential part of treatment. A thoughtful exam, clear education, and shared decision-making can reduce fear, improve buy-in, and help patients understand why rehab is not “doing less,”; in fact, it can actually be the most appropriate place to start.
Meniscus Tears for Providers: What to Look For, What to Measure, and How to Guide Recovery
Meniscus tears are common but not always straightforward. They may occur from acute twisting injuries or gradual degenerative changes. Symptoms can vary widely depending on age, activity level, and injury type.
Classic signs include joint line pain (often medial), clicking, catching, locking, painful weight bearing, and limited knee range of motion. Many patients also struggle with squatting, stairs, or pivoting movements.
Medial meniscus injuries are more common in chronic cases, partly because the medial meniscus is less mobile and more firmly attached within the knee.
Meniscal root tears are especially important to recognize. These injuries can significantly alter knee biomechanics and may accelerate osteoarthritis if not addressed properly.
Key exam priorities for providers: evaluate effusion, knee ROM, quadriceps strength, joint line tenderness, and meniscal tests, while also assessing functional movement like squats or hop tasks when appropriate.
Achilles Tendinopathy: The Comeback Plan That Actually Sticks
If your Achilles is mad after you suddenly asked it to do athlete things (like running after taking years off) or if you have asked it to do too many athlete things (like running 3 marathons in back-to-back weekends), you’re not broken. You’ve got a loading issue.
Here’s the gist:
Achilles tendinopathy is usually a load problem, not a “you’re doomed” problem. Progressive tendon loading is the backbone of recovery.
Complete rest can calm pain, but it rarely builds the tendon’s tolerance—so symptoms often boomerang and return when activity returns.
Early rehab often starts with symptom-calming loading (like isometrics), then progresses to strength (concentric/eccentric), and eventually plyometrics + sport-specific work.
What helps the most long-term: a clear plan + honest conversations about pain, goals, and pacing. Education + loading = better outcomes.
Takeaway: Your Achilles doesn’t need a lecture and it needs more than rest. It needs a progressive plan—and a provider who listens and can guide you through your recovery.
