One personal trainer's fitness goal: Help cancer patients feel better ...

One minute, Laura Rosencrantz's grandfather was a vibrant guy, exercising at least five times a week, enjoying a rich family life and running a big company. The next, doctors found lung cancer, advised he skip the gym routine and rest. He grew weaker by the day.

Leonard Schnitzer, 78, chairman of the board and former longtime chief executive officer of Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., died June 8, 2003, three months after his diagnosis.

His death devastated and motivated Rosencrantz, his doting granddaughter. She quit her job as a Multnomah Athletic Club fitness instructor, got specialized training and started an exercise program designed to help cancer patients stay stronger while in treatment, recover afterward or at the very least, feel better during the time they have left. She calls it Inpower.

Rosencrantz's focus on exercise for cancer patients mirrors a burgeoning trend among fitness trainers, physical therapists and oncologists. Out are the bed-rest recommendations of old. In are prescriptions for workouts tailored to specific cancer diagnoses, to how patients feel and to what they can tolerate day to day as they endure chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments.

The advice emerges from detailed reviews of medical literature, with doctors concluding that in addition to being a cancer deterrent, exercise is safe during and after cancer treatment. It can improve physical function and quality of life, and can decrease the debilitating fatigue many patients suffer.

Since the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Cancer Society collaborated in 2009 to develop a special cancer-exercise certification for fitness professionals, 225 trainers have been certified; the number is expected to grow rapidly this spring, after the ACSM publishes a textbook on the topic.

Rosencrantz is an ACSM-certified personal trainer; her cancer-exercise certification is through University of Northern Colorado.

To see how patients respond to her program, descend the stairs at Southwest Portland's Mittleman Jewish Community Center, push through the workout-room doors and look for the exercisers wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with "Act well. Be well. Live well," Inpower's motto.

They're young, middle-aged and older, men and women, with breast cancer, testicular cancer, prostate cancer, brain cancer, lymphoma -- you name it. Some are lifelong athletes. Others are new to weight benches, treadmills and such.

Regardless, Rosencrantz says, when they first walk in the door, "they're scared, broken and lost."

After two weeks, she says, "they have their spirit back."

The 35-year-old trainer, a University of Oregon graduate in exercise and movement science, first ran Inpower through Cancer Care Resources, a nonprofit that provided patients guidance, counseling and comfort. After the charity folded in 2008, Rosencrantz found a home for her program at Mittleman, which gives Inpower free access to its fitness facilities and helps subsidize patients who can't afford the program's $125 monthly cost.

Patients fill out health questionnaires and sign medical releases, giving Rosencrantz the opportunity to consult with their doctors about restrictions specific to their illness. She talks to patients about their goals, where they are in treatment and what side effects they're experiencing. Then she designs a fitness program to suit each participant's needs.

Those with neuropathy in their feet, for instance, might exercise more safely on a bike than on a treadmill. Programs for breast-cancer patients might focus on improving upper-body range of motion after a mastectomy. Someone with brain cancer might need to work primarily on balance.

Inpower classes, which include 10 to 12 patients, are held during the gym's quiet midafternoon hours, which not only seems more comfortable but also may be a little less germy than when the fitness center's full. That's a plus for cancer patients, more vulnerable to infection than those who are healthy.

Rosencrantz has some terrific unpaid help, a woman as warm and engaging as she is: her mother, Gayle Romain. The two make the rounds through the gym, checking on each Inpower patient and urging them to do the best they can, whether that means lifting heavier weights than the week before or simply making it out of bed and into class.

"She takes so much joy in your milestones. Her mom, too. They're so encouraging," says Leslie Weber, the 51-year-old finance manager for the nonprofit Stand for Children. She was diagnosed more than two years ago with breast cancer and is still in treatment. "You get so many positive vibes off them, it just makes you feel better."

Plus, Weber says, the class serves as an informal support group. She's grown especially close to two other breast-cancer patients, one ahead of her in treatment and one behind her. Each absorbs what the others have learned, helping them gauge, for instance, how long it might be before they feel better after chemo, or whether a symptom is normal or unusual.

"They're really optimistic women and are moving forward in a positive manner," says Weber, who joins a handful of Inpower participants for weekend walks inside Washington Square mall and during the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. "That's so important to me. Attitude is so important to getting through this."

Not every Inpower patient, of course, gets through it.

One of Rosencrantz's clients had terminal lung cancer but exercised through treatment so he'd be strong enough to ski with his grandchildren one last time, which he did.

"It allowed him," Rozencrantz says, "to finish everything he wanted to do."

- Katy Muldoon; twitter.com/katymuldoon

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/02/one_trainers_fitness_goal_help.html

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