14/01/2026
Did you know your workout could literally be killing cancer cells? 💪🩸
When we talk about cancer deaths, we must know the concept of metastasis, because this is the culprit that causes most cancer deaths. Cancer cells can break away from the primary tumor, enter the bloodstream (or lymphatic system), and travel to other parts of the body.
This process is called metastasis, meaning cancer spread. This process is done through circulating tumor cells.
Emerging studies in the past decade showed that exercise ramps up blood flow velocity, creating high shear stress in your arteries & veins.
This frictional force, when high enough, mechanically destroys circulating tumor cells, because they are particularly susceptible to sheering stress.
The in vitro study by Regmi and colleagues proved High shear killed >90% of CTCs in just 4 hours via necrosis, and the remaining underwent apoptosis, a programmed cell death in the next 16-24h. On the contrary, normal cells do not see such damaging effect.
Exercise isn’t just good for your heart and muscle. It could be a powerful anti-cancer weapon too. Of course exercise isn’t effective for every single type of cancer, as least it’s not proven yet. But from what we have learnt through the last ten years of research, the evidence supporting its positive effect is accumulating.
References
Regmi, S., Fu, A. & Luo, K. Sci Rep 7, 39975 (2017)
Aiping Zheng, et. al. Front. Pharmacol. 12 October 2022, 13
van Doorslaer de Ten Ryen S, Deldicque L. The Regulation of the Metastatic Cascade by Physical Activity: A Narrative Review. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Jan 8;12(1):153
