Ciaran Fairman

University of South Carolina | USC · Department of Exercise Science

To date, the prevailing evidence in the field of exercise oncology supports the safety and efficacy of resistance training to attenuate many oncology treatment-related adverse effects, such as risk for cardiovascular disease, increased fatigue, and diminished physical functioning and quality of life. Moreover, findings in the extant literature supp...

Background Although androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) is the foundation of treatment for prostate cancer, the physiological impacts of ADT result in functional decline and enhanced risk of chronic disease and metabolic syndrome. Purpose The Individualized Diet and Exercise Adherence Pilot Trial (IDEA-P) is a single-blind, randomized, pilot trial...

Low muscle mass in individuals with cancer has a profound impact on quality of life and independence and is associated with greater treatment toxicity and poorer prognosis. Exercise interventions are regularly being investigated as a means to ameliorate treatment-related adverse effects, and nutritional/supplementation strategies to augment adaptat...

Purpose While general guidelines (such as CONSORT or CERT) exist to enhance the reporting of exercise interventions in the field of exercise science, there is inadequate detail facilitating the standardized reporting of resistance training adherence in the oncology setting. The purpose of this study was to apply a novel method to report resistance...

Background Low muscle in cancer is associated with an increase in treatment-related toxicities and is a predictor of cancer-related and all-cause mortality. The mechanisms of cancer-related muscle loss are multifactorial, including anorexia, hypogonadism, anaemia, inflammation, malnutrition, and aberrations in skeletal muscle protein turnover and m...

Funding communities through mini-grant programs builds community capacity by fostering leadership among community members, developing expertise in implementing evidence-based practices, and increasing trust in partnerships. The South Carolina Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (SC-CPCRN) implemented the Community Health Intervention Pro...

Sarcopenia refers to the age-related reduction in strength, muscle mass and functionality which increases the risk for falls, injuries and fractures. Sarcopenia is associated with other age-related conditions such as osteoporosis, frailty and cachexia. Identifying treatments to overcome sarcopenia and associated conditions is important from a globa...

Background Symptom burden remains a critical concern for individuals with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following the completion of treatment. The most common symptom clusters, dyspnea (shortness of breath) and fatigue, can contribute to physical decline, reductions in quality of life, and a higher risk of comorbidities and mortality. Dyspnea...

Background: Loss of muscle mass and muscle function is a common side effect from androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer (PCa). Here, we explored effects of heavy-load resistance training (RT) on lean body mass and muscle strength changes reported in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) among PCa patients on ADT and in healthy elderl...

Being overweight or obese is a primary modifiable risk factor that exacerbates disease progression and mobility disability in older knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Lifestyle interventions combining exercise with dietary weight loss (EX+DWL) yield meaningful improvements in mobility and weight loss that are superior to EX or DWL alone. Unfortunat...

Addressing skeletal muscle mass loss is an important focus in oncology research to improve clinical outcomes, including cancer treatment tolerability and survival. Exercise is likely a necessary component of muscle-mass-preserving interventions for people with cancer. However, randomized controlled trials with exercise that include people with canc...

Objective To compare the effects of an exercise and dietary intervention with those of standard-of-care management upon change in lift and carry performance and mobility-related self-efficacy beliefs and explore associations in prostate cancer patients undergoing androgen deprivation therapy. Methods 32 prostate cancer patients ( M age = 66.2 year...

Numerous epidemiological studies indicate that physical activity has a protective effect against colon cancer development and progression. Further, the relevant biological mechanisms where physical activity or exercise may improve survival have also been initially examined. In this review, we provide an overview of the epidemiological evidence to d...

Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers cause one-third of all cancer-related deaths worldwide. Natural compounds are emerging as alternative or adjuvant cancer therapies given their distinct advantage of manipulating multiple pathways to both suppress tumor growth and alleviate cancer comorbidities; however, concerns regarding efficacy, bioavailability, and...

Background Changes in body composition during cancer treatments have been linked with poorer outcomes, and increased morbidity and mortality. The effect of resistance training (RT) on body composition in cancer cohorts is debated.Objective We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the effect of RT on body composition during an...

Background: Symptom burden remains a critical concern for individuals with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following the completion of treatment. The most common symptom clusters, dyspnea (shortness of breath) and fatigue,can contribute to physical decline, reductions in quality of life, and a higher risk of comorbidities and mortality. Dyspnea...

Objectives To assess the long-term effects of various exercise modes on psychological distress in men with prostate cancer on androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Patients and methods 135 prostate cancer patients aged 43–90 years on ADT were randomized to twice weekly supervised impact loading and resistance exercise (ImpRes), supervised aerobic an...

The field of exercise oncology has rapidly evolved over the past 30 years. Initial investigations of safety and feasibility have progressed towards efficacy and effectiveness trials with a variety of health-related outcomes in mind. More recently, it has been recognized that interventions aimed at modifying physical activity behavior (i.e. behavior...

Resistance training (RT) is a fundamental component of exercise prescription aimed at improving overall health and function. RT techniques such as cluster set (CS) configurations, characterized by additional short intra-set or inter-repetition rest intervals, have been shown to maintain acute muscular force, velocity, and ‘power’ outputs across a R...

Background Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) has adverse effects on body composition, including muscle wasting and body fat accumulation, which may be attenuated by nutrition therapy. This systematic review summarises available evidence on the effects of dietary interventions on lean mass, fat mass and body mass index (BMI) in men treated with ADT...

e24035 Background: Post-treatment weight gain places breast cancer (BCa) survivors at heightened risk for cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, and functional decline. Lifestyle weight management (LWM) interventions combining exercise and dietary weight loss represents an effective approach to mitigating the adverse cardiometabolic and functi...

Background: Exercise rehabilitation programmes, traditionally involving supervised exercise sessions, have had to rapidly adapt to virtual delivery in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to minimise patient contacts. In the absence of an effective vaccine, the pandemic is likely to persist in the medium term and during this...

The aim of this study was to examine the health-related effects of exercise in patients with pancreatic cancer (PanCa) through a systematic review of current evidence. Studies were obtained through searching PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL Plus, and Cochrane Library databases with additional hand searches. All intervention-based st...

Background: Despite evidence of selective outcome reporting across multiple disciplines, this has not yet been assessed in trials studying the effects of exercise in people with cancer. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to explore prospectively registered randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in exercise oncology for evidence of selective outco...

Objectives Treatments for prostate cancer such as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), surgery and radiation therapy can adversely affect sexual, urinary and bowel function. Preliminary research has demonstrated the efficacy of exercise to preserve sexual function in men with localised prostate cancer receiving ADT, though this has yet to be investi...

Kraemer, WJ, Caldwell, LK, Post, EM, DuPont, WH, Martini, ER, Ratamess, NA, Szivak, TK, Shurley, JP, Beeler, MK, Volek, JS, Maresh, CM, Todd, JS, Walrod, BJ, Hyde, PN, Fairman, C, and Best, TM. Body composition in elite strongman competitors. J Strength Cond Res 34(12): 3326-3330, 2020-The purpose of this descriptive investigation was to characteri...

Background: Exercise rehabilitation programmes, traditionally involving supervised exercise sessions, have had to rapidly adapt to virtual delivery in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to minimise patient contacts. In the absence of an effective vaccine, the pandemic is likely to persist in the medium term and during this...

Background: Curative treatment for upper gastrointestinal (UGI) and hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) cancers, involves complex surgical resection often in combination with neoadjuvant/adjuvant chemo/chemoradiotherapy. With advancing survival rates, there is an emergent cohort of UGI and HPB cancer survivors with physical and nutritional deficits, re...

Cancer patients and survivors experience wide-ranging acute and persistent toxicities that have implications to reduced physical function, cardiovascular and metabolic complications, musculoskeletal health and quality of life. Over the past several years, the field of exercise oncology has demonstrated a number of opportunities for the use of exerc...

Background: Exercise and dietary (EX+D) interventions could represent an optimal treatment for attenuating or reversing adverse effects of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in prostate cancer (PCa) patients. The Individualized Diet and Exercise Adherence-Pilot (IDEA-P) trial compared the effects of an EX+D intervention relative to standard-of-car...

Background: Scientists are using social media to amplify their scientific impact. As such, researchers are looking for novel ways to engage this medium to promote scientific findings and communicate research to a broader audience. Here, we examine the use of a Twitter conference as a means to effectively communicate advances in the field of exercis...

Physical inactivity is a major concern in cancer patients despite the established preventative and therapeutic effects of regular physical exercise for this patient group. Sport not only plays an important role in supporting the development and maintenance of a physically active lifestyle but also is increasingly used as a health promotion activity...

Objective. To compare the effects of a group-mediated cognitive behavioral (GMCB) exercise and dietary (EX+D) intervention with those of standard-of-care (SC) treatment on select social cognitive outcomes in prostate cancer (PCa) patients undergoing androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Methods. In the single-blind, 2-arm, randomized controlled Indiv...

Introduction Creatine supplementation has consistently been demonstrated to augment adaptations in body composition, muscle strength and physical function in a variety of apparently healthy older adults and clinical populations. The effects of creatine supplementation and resistance training in individuals with cancer have yet to be investigated. T...

In 2018, the Clinical Oncology Society of Australia published a landmark position statement calling for exercise to be integrated as standard practice in cancer care. Efforts to implement this directive in the years ahead will come with many practical challenges. We suggest that for the successful integration of exercise therapy to occur, exercise...

Introduction A potential link exists between prostate cancer (PCa) disease and treatment and increased inflammatory levels from gut dysbiosis. This study aims to examine if exercise favourably alters gut microbiota in men receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for PCa. Specifically, this study will explore whether: (1) exercise improves the c...

Prostate cancer (PCa) is among the most prevalent forms of cancer among American men. For many decades, androgen deprivation therapy and newer drugs inhibiting various aspects of aberrant androgen signaling, have been a mainstay of therapy and are increasingly incorporated into multimodality treatment plans for men with prostate cancer. Although im...

Resistance exercise (RE) is commonly employed to elicit skeletal muscle adaptation. Relative intensity of a training load links closely with the outcomes of regular RE. This study examined the RPE responses to acute bouts of RE using imposed (40% and 70% of 1RM) and self-selected loads (SS) in recreationally trained women. Twenty physically active...

Exercise has been shown to be safe and effective for prostate cancer (PrCa) patients. The monitoring of resistance exercise (RE) intensity is an emerging area of interest in RE prescription. Rating of perceived exertion (RPE) is one of the most commonly used methods, but has not yet been validated in this population. Thus, the purpose of this study...

We thank Neil-Sztramko et al 1 for their interest in our paper2 where they outline concerns they suggest may confound what can be concluded from the findings. We address each of their concerns below. A more detailed response to the authors can be found in the online supplementary file. Neil-Sztramko et al raise an excellent point regarding the rel...

The increasing interest in weight loss has seen a concurrent rise in the supplemental use of thermogenics to aid weight loss efforts. To date, the effectiveness and safety of supplemental proprietary blend thermogenics, in conjunction with high-protein energy-restricted diets have not been thoroughly evaluated. The purpose of this study was to inve...

The objective of the present study was to compare a group-mediated cognitive behavioral (GMCB) physical activity intervention with traditional exercise therapy (TRAD) upon select social cognitive outcomes in sedentary knee osteoarthritis (knee OA) patients. A total of 80 patients (mean age = 63.5 years; 84% women) were recruited using clinic and co...

Objectives: The primary purpose of this systematic review is to examine the extant resistance training (RT) cancer research to evaluate the proportion of RT interventions that: (1) implemented key RT training principles (specificity, progression, overload) and (2) explicitly reported relevant RT prescription components (frequency, intensity, sets,...

Effects of MusclePharm Assault BlackTM on lower extremity spinal excitability and postactivation potentiation: A pilot study Brian Wallace*, Haley Bergstrom, Kelly Wallace Department of Kinesiology and Health Promotion, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA Email: brian.wallace@uky.edu; brian.wallace@northern.edu Background: Caffeine h...

Previous findings suggest that exercise is a safe and efficacious means of improving physiological and psychosocial outcomes in female breast cancer survivors. To date, most research has focused on post-treatment interventions. However, given that the type and severity of treatment-related adverse effects may be dependent on the type of treatment,...