Building a Gentle Movement Routine After Treatment

Moving your body after cancer treatment isn’t always about fitness goals or bouncing back stronger. Sometimes, it’s about getting through the day. Sometimes, it’s about reminding yourself you’re still here, still capable of something. And honestly? Sometimes it’s about dragging yourself out of that weird, heavy treatment fog for five minutes just to feel a little bit more human again.

Movement after bowel cancer looks different for everyone. It might look different for you every single day. But one thing I firmly believe, and what I’ve seen from others in this community, is this:

Move when you can, because you can. Not because you have to.

Or as my late friend Anthony Ellison, who passed away from bowel cancer, once told me:

“Do it because you can, not because you have to.” – Anthony Ellison

It stuck with me. Because after cancer, movement isn’t about punishment or obligation. It’s about possibility.

Why Movement Matters After Cancer Treatment

Cancer treatment takes an absolutely brutal toll on your body. Fatigue. Muscle loss. Stiff joints. Nerve damage. Surgery scars. Ongoing gut issues. Add to that the emotional weight of everything you’ve been through, and moving can feel like the last thing you want to do.

But movement, in whatever way you can manage, has real benefits for recovery:

• Boosts energy (eventually!)
• Improves circulation and lymphatic drainage
• Supports digestion and gut function
• Helps with scar tissue mobility
• Reduces stiffness and joint pain
• Improves mood and mental health
• Rebuilds confidence in your body

This isn’t about smashing out gym sessions or running marathons. It’s about gentle, consistent movement that helps your body feel like home again.

Low-Energy Day Movement Ideas

Some days you’ll have zero fuel in the tank. That’s normal. But even tiny movements can help shift that stuck, heavy feeling.

Ideas for low-energy days:

• Stretch or roll your ankles and wrists in bed
• Slow neck rolls or shoulder shrugs
• Leg slides while lying down
• Gentle seated yoga or stretching
• Walk to your letterbox
• Stand and sway side to side during TV ads
• Do 2 to 3 minutes of deep breathing with movement
• Pelvic tilts or glute squeezes lying down
• Stomach massage or belly breathing to support digestion

Movement doesn’t have to mean steps on a smartwatch. It’s about reminding your body it still works, even in the smallest ways.

Better Day Movement Ideas

On days you feel a bit more capable, use that window of energy to gently challenge yourself.

Ideas for better days:

• Short walks outside (even 5 to 10 minutes)
• Bodyweight exercises like wall push-ups or sit-to-stand from a chair
• Beginner yoga or tai chi classes (in-person or online)
• Gentle Pilates (many offer cancer-friendly programs)
• Swimming or water-based movement
• Resistance bands for light strength work
• Dance around the house to one song
• Stretching routines for scar tissue mobility
• Balance exercises (standing on one foot near a wall)

Consistency beats intensity every time.

Specialist Support: Exercise Physiologists for Cancer Recovery

In Australia, you can actually access trained professionals who specialise in cancer rehab. They’re called Exercise Physiologists, and they can help design a safe, personalised movement plan based on your energy levels, treatment history, and goals.

Bowel Cancer Australia offers free phone advice from an Exercise Physiologist: 1800 727 336

If you’re in Western Australia, Cancer Council WA runs free Life Now Programs, including exercise classes designed for cancer recovery.

Or chat to your GP about a Chronic Disease Management Plan, which may allow subsidised sessions with an Exercise Physiologist through Medicare.

Common Barriers to Movement (and Real Talk About Them)

Let’s not pretend this is easy. Some common mental and physical hurdles include:

• Fear of injury or doing harm
• Fatigue so crushing you can’t even sit upright
• Frustration that your body feels foreign or broken
• Comparison to your “pre-cancer” self
• Feeling like moving isn’t worth it if it’s not a full workout

I get it. But here’s the thing: post-cancer movement isn’t about returning to your old self. It’s about slowly building trust in this new version of you. Respecting its limits. Celebrating its efforts. And knowing that moving at all is a damn victory.

Start Small. Stay Kind. Keep Showing Up.

Movement after treatment is messy. It’s inconsistent. It can feel discouraging as hell some days. But it also has moments of magic, when your body surprises you. When you feel stronger than you thought possible. When you realise moving hurts less than standing still.

Start tiny. Keep showing up. And most of all? Be gentle with yourself.

Move because you can, not because you have to.

You’ve already survived worse.

Final Thought

If you’re sitting there reading this, exhausted and thinking “Yeah, nah, not today” that’s okay. Bookmark this for another day. But when you can move, even just a little, do it because you can.

Your body’s been through hell. It deserves kindness, patience, and love. And you deserve to feel like yourself again, one tiny movement at a time.