What does physiotherapy have to do with cancer?

“Physiotherapy is an integral part of the cancer treatment and recovery plan: it promotes the patients’ life quality and overall sense of well-being by restoring movement, function and strength.” - Champalimaud Foundation Physiotherapy Team.

For the seventh episode of the Zoom-In series, meet Laura Fernandez, a surgeon at the Digestive Unit. Curious about Laura’s work? Check out our website here and you can also find out more about Laura's latest work on the Watch&Wait protocol - a non-invasive approach to rectal cancer treatment.

Right now, lung cancer is the most lethal cancer in the world. Eighty percent of its victims are smokers, making smoking a determinant risk factor for this cancer. But according to oncologist Nuno Gil, who heads the Lung Unit at the Champalimaud Clinical Centre, smoking is not the ultimate cause of lung cancer. First, many smokers never develop lung cancer, and second, a growing number of non-smokers have this disease. Nuno Gil would really like to solve this mystery.

Time marches on, waits for no man, and even possesses the power of flight, or so the sayings go. Ageing is the natural and unavoidable result of this passage of time for living organisms. But over the years, we have been rallying against Father Time and increasing human life expectancy through better medical care, understanding of hygiene, diet and exercise. Add to this that the maximum age a person could be anticipated to reach is now around 121 years old (note that this is maximum life expectancy - few will reach this, but most of us will die trying!). 

In recognition of their endeavour, the FAITH project has been nominated for an ‘.eu Web Award’  in the ‘Better World’ category, The .eu Web Awards are an online competition, launched in 2014 and designed to acknowledge the best websites using the .eu, .ею or .ευ extensions, in six dynamic categories. Finalists with the highest scores from the jury will be selected as winners, and will be announced during the Awards ceremony held on 16 October 2021.

This therapeutic approach is still far from being mainstream practice. But according to the latest research, it could actually prevent hundreds of thousands of invasive surgeries worldwide every year.

It started pretty innocuously. An email from my coordinator popped up in my inbox, asking if I would be available to prepare a piece for the campaign Be Open about Animal Research Day – Get on #BOARD21.

Texts by Liad Hollender, Science writer & editor of the CCU Communication, Outreach and Events team.

Illustrations & Motion Graphics by Diogo Matias, designer of the CCU Communication, Outreach and Events team.

Editing by Hedi Young, Digital Content & Social Media Editor of the CCU Communication, Outreach and Events team.