This 5 hour online transformative course is designed specifically for physiotherapists and kinesiologists in public or private practice who are called upon to guide patients through safe and effective exercise following cancer diagnosis and treatment. With cancer survivors increasingly seeking physical rehabilitation, understanding how to assess and support higher-risk individuals is no longer optional—it’s urgent.
Through practical insight and evidence-based strategies, this course equips you to identify risk factors, perform targeted assessments, and confidently prescribe exercise tailored to complex needs. The skills you gain won’t just enhance your clinical impact—they’ll expand your professional edge in a growing area of healthcare.
Course Objectives:
- Understand High-Risk Populations: Identify and understand the characteristics and needs of high-risk populations, including patients under treatment with significant co-morbidities such as cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and metabolic diseases.
- Recognize Higher Risk Types of Cancer: Gain knowledge about higher risk types of cancer and their treatment protocols, including: CNS tumors, kidney, ovarian and bone cancers as well as advanced cancers at diagnosis.
- Utilize Exercise Screening Tools: Learn to use various exercise screening tools and tests for triage and identification of red and yellow flags including functional testing protocols.
- Develop Exercise Prescription Plans: Develop exercise prescription plans using the FITT (Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type) principle, focusing on pre-habilitation, wellness objectives, cardiovascular training, muscular endurance, and resistance training.
- Handle Oncological Emergencies: Understand how to handle oncological emergencies and integrate case study discussions to apply theoretical knowledge to practical scenarios.
- Integrate Knowledge Through Case Studies: Apply the knowledge gained throughout the course by working through case studies
Course content
Module 1 Overview of the high risk populations
Patients under treatment with significant co-morbidities
- Cardiac disease
- Pulmonary diseases
- Neurological disease
- Metabolic disease: obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney disease.(brain, pancreatic, lung and kidney populations)**
- Past treatment and residual dysfunction(development of Type 2 diabetes following treatment)
- Case study discussion
Module 2 Higher risk types of cancer and treatment protocols
- CNS tumours
- Bone cancers: sarcoma, multiple myeloma. (radiotherapy and bone status)
- Advanced cancers at diagnosis: i.e. Lung cancers, kidney cancers? Ovarian cancers
- Case study discussion
Module 3- Exercise screening tools and tests
- Triage, PS, red and yellow flags
- Par Q
- Functional testing protocols: O2 saturation, challenge tests
- Past activity profile
- Categorization of participants: unsupervised, group, personalized, individual & supervised
Module 4- Exercise parameters and prescription
- Decision tree : FITT (Frequency, Intensity, Time and Type)principle and how it applies to higher risk populations:
- Pre-habilitation
- Wellness objectives
- Cardiovascular training
- Muscular endurance
- Muscular resistance training.
- Oncological emergencies
- Case discussions
Certification exam following each course module
Instructor
Mary-Ann Dalzell, MSc PT is past Chair, Oncology Division, CPA and past chair of National Education and Clinical Mentorship for the Division. At present she is Associate Professor and senior expert in Rehabilitation Oncology, Department of Health Sciences, University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, affiliate of McGill and co-coordinating the implementation of a national competency framework for education in oncology rehabilitation. Her teaching career spans several decades as Faculty Lecturer at the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, McGill, and includes the development of courses in orthopedics, sports medicine, biophysical modalities, and rehabilitation oncology. She is co-coordinator of the Global Course on Physiotherapy in Oncology for IPT-Hope ,the Oncology Division of the WCPT, featuring an international panel of experts in cancer rehabilitation.
As a clinician Mary Ann has been dedicated to the development of patient services and held leadership roles in the implementation and administration of various orthopedic and oncology programs. She was Executive Director of the ESPRIT Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Centers spanning more than 25 years and co-founder and Associate Director of the McGill Cancer Nutrition-Rehabilitation Program. More recently she served as the Clinical Director of the Rehabilitation & Exercise Oncology Program, Hope & Cope, Segal Cancer Center in Montreal.
Her research contributions are on-going and include a collaboration with national researchers in Canada for the development of Supportive Care Oncology Practices ECHO (SCOPE) to improve services for breast cancer patients , and clinical advisor in support of the feasibility of using new pelvic health modules for cancer rehabilitation . She has been a principal investigator on several projects funded by the Cure Foundation and the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation, focusing on exercise interventions, the management of bone metastasis, and bone health in cancer patients.
As author and collaborator for numerous publications on the long-term effects of post-radiation exercise programs in AYA breast cancer populations; Translation of evidence to practice: Rehabilitation & Exercise Program; International Guidelines for Exercise in Patients with Bone Metastasis; and Clinical Guidelines Update for Management of Breast Cancer Related Lymphedema she has frequently been an invited speaker at national and international conferences, sharing her expertise in orthopedics, sports medicine, cancer rehabilitation and exercise oncology.
In partnership with Key Clinical Skills(KCS) and Bia Education, Canada, she now provides progressive levels of certification on Strategies for Rehabilitation of Patients with Cancer and a specialization course on Exercise Prescription for Higher Risk Populations. Her dedication to oncology rehabilitation has earned her several awards, including the Education Award for leadership in advancing education for practice in oncology from IPT-Hope.