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Brisk walking may benefit men diagnosed with prostate cancer

Category: Prostate

For men who have recently received a positive PSA test for prostate cancer, there may be no better medicine than a walk in the park. A recent investigation published in the journal Cancer Research showed that brisk walking may prevent cancer from progressing to more serious stages.

After studying more than 14,000 men, the University of California and Harvard School of Public Health researchers found that those who walked briskly for at least three hours per week were 60 percent less likely to experience prostate cancer recurrence, which often precedes metastasis.

The results showed that this benefit applied to men with prostate cancer regardless of the age at which they were diagnosed or the type of treatment they were on at the time of the study. However, not all walking had the same effect.

"The important point was the intensity of the activity - the walking had to be brisk for men to experience a benefit," said Erin Richman, the lead author of the study. "Our results provide men with prostate cancer something they can do to improve their prognosis."

However, she added that other types of physical activity that elevates the heart rate may have similar effects to brisk walking