°®Éñ´«Ã½

You may have heard the word prehabilitation or 'prehab' if you or someone you love are preparing to start cancer treatment.

This page has information about what it is and how °®Éñ´«Ã½ can help.

What is prehabilitation?

Prehabilitation means getting yourself ready for cancer treatment, regardless of treatment options or the stage of cancer.

It's important because it can help you to:

• manage or improve your physical and emotional health 
• reduce the side effects of cancer treatments
• cut down time spent in hospital
• gain a sense of control
• learn how to help yourself and where to go for further support

What areas does prehabilitation focus on?

Emotional wellbeing

A cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming. By becoming more aware of your emotions and finding out more about looking after your emotional wellbeing, navigating treatment can feel more manageable.

Nutrition

Eating well can help you feel better, maximise your energy level, and feel more in control.

Choosing a variety of foods and well-balanced meals can help to reduce treatment side effects and support faster recovery.

Exercise

Research shows that being as active as possible after diagnosis may reduce complications and support recovery. Small changes in activity levels can make a big difference over time.

• Before treatment, physical activity may help you deal with distress and anxiety, have more energy, and improve your sleep.
• During treatment, physical activity may help reduce side effects like fatigue.

Cancer and cancer treatment impacts our energy levels, so be aware that each week may be different in terms of how much physical activity you can achieve. The goal is to stay as active as you can.

Prehabilitation at °®Éñ´«Ã½

We know that helping you to be more physically active and emotionally resilient before treatment can have a significant impact on how you feel after treatment.  

In all our centres, our cancer support specialists can talk to you about prehabilitation and help you to understand what it means for you.

Physical activity, nutrition and managing emotional wellbeing before, during and after cancer are all part of the programme of support at °®Éñ´«Ã½ - we're here for you.

In Scotland, we also run prehab workshops in partnership with the Scottish Government.

Last review: Apr 2026 | Next review: Apr 2029