Qualification in Cancer and Exercise Rehabilitation

The CanRehab team was the first U.K. training provider to be able to offer a Qualification in Cancer and Exercise Rehabilitation and is endorsed by CIMSPA.

CanRehab believes there is a growing awareness among many health professionals that by prescribing exercise to patients living with cancer they can not only reduce the side effects of cancer treatment but may also reduce the risk of cancer recurring.

The knowledge you will gain by completing the Qualification in Cancer and Exercise Rehabilitation will enable you to confidently and professionally deliver safe and effective exercise classes and individual exercise programs to clients living with cancer.

CanRehab believes that it is vitally important that to aide recovery and quality of life, all cancer patients are given the correct advice by professionally trained instructors, able to design and adapt a physical activity program for each individual patient. On completion of this qualification, you will be a recognized specialist exercise instructor in cancer rehabilitation and will be able to actively assist and encourage your clients living with cancer on their road to recovery.

This specialist instructor course is delivered as synchronous online teaching i.e. live teaching where students are expected to attend every scheduled session. The course is 6 teaching days from 9.30AM – 3.30PM.

The course structure allows formal lectures, videos, small group work and formative assessments. Students are taught by several tutors over this time, all of whom are considered experts in their field.

To enhance self-study, you will be sent a CanRehab Reference manual, The Learners’ manual (for use during course teaching) and will have access to the CanRehab Learner’s portal (an extensive online library of resources including all the slide presentations). In addition, a private Facebook group is set up for each course cohort to ensure students are supported right up until the assessments completed.

On completing this qualification you will:

• • • Understand the causes of cancer, current cancer treatments, and the side effects relevant to exercise prescription.
    • Be familiar with the most recent evidence on the effects of different exercises on specific cancer types and specific side effects of cancer treatments.
    • Confidently prepare a reliable and effective system of communication and information gathering with clients and health professionals.
    • Be capable of carrying out a risk assessment, exercise testing and prescribing personalized exercise programs for each patient/client living with cancer.
    • Be able to deliver safe and effective physical activities with patients/ clients living with cancer.

On completing the course you will be assessed using the following criteria:

• • • The theory exam will include multiple and short answer papers based on the course manual and presentations.
    • Case study: you will be required to write a case study on a client living with cancer.
    • Practical viva: you will demonstrate the screening and adapting of your exercise program for the case studies used in the course

Those eligible to apply for this course:

• Fitness professional with at least a Level 3 personal trainer qualification, and preferably the Level 3 Exercise Referral qualification. In Ireland REPs members who wish to register this award require to have EQF L5 Exercise for Health Specialist qualification.
• Health professionals and academics with specialist interest in exercise and cancer rehabilitation e.g. Physiotherapists.
• Students with or currently studying a clinical exercise degree or similar programme that have had assessed their competency in practical instruction at level 2 of gym instructor.
• Qualified Level 3 or 4 Pilates and Yoga instructors can also attend, however there may be some general principles of exercise that this course assumes students attending are familiar with and may require students to study independently. On gaining the CanRehab Qualification, it is important to stress that Pilates or yoga instructors adapt the principals they learn to their Yoga or Pilates scope of practice and insurance.