Juno supports scientific study on exercise therapy in childhood cancer patients

Sport is good and important for the body! This applies to healthy people as well as to people who receive targeted exercise therapy due to an illness. It has already been demonstrated in adults that exercise training has a beneficial effect on the chances of recovery for cancer patients. This is also obvious for children and adolescents, but has not yet been clearly proven. Thus, sports therapy is not yet an integral part of cancer therapy in children and is not offered by health insurance companies as part of standard care.

One goal of Stiftung Juno Kinderkrebshilfe is to change this. Our Foundation therefore support sports therapy applications as part of a large-scale European study investigating the influence of a personalized and at the same time standardized exercise program on cancer and the side effects in children and adolescents. Nine pediatric oncology centers in Europe use a series of standardized test procedures to assess the movement and conditional skills of the young study participants, monitor the progress and effects of the sports therapy measures, compare the results with patients who do not take part in any exercise therapy, and evaluate them scientifically.

In order to be able to collect the conditional skills as precisely as possible, the application of different, validated test methods is necessary. Various standardized materials are used here, such as an angle measurement device to determine the range of motion, a distance measurement device to determine cardiovascular performance, weights to carry out strength tests, but also materials for carrying out the tests and sports units such as a portable mat, floor markings, balls and more. All materials are selected so they can be used on the move and are child-friendly, since the aim of the application is always to promote age-appropriate motor development. In addition, colorful materials, mats for playing and crawling and forms of play such as throwing, catching and shooting contribute to an atmosphere suitable for children and young people.

Stiftung Juno Kinderkrebshilfe procures the sports equipment and materials, which are used in the patient study, for all nine European centers. On the one hand, this serves to standardize the test procedures across the entire consortium. In addition, project centers with a less well-developed infrastructure in the field of sports therapy receive initial support for the implementation of sports therapy measures, which promotes the expansion of pediatric oncological sports therapy projects at the corresponding European locations.

As Juno Children’s Cancer Aid Foundation, we are pleased to support the implementation of personalized sports therapy measures by purchasing the sports materials and thus to be involved in major progress in establishing a standardized sports program for children’s oncology patients throughout Europe.

We are looking for supporters for this important project – if you are interested, please contact us!