Dr Grainne Sheill's Cancer Researcher Story
"We know that it’s harder for people with head and neck cancer to get back into exercise compared to people who’ve been treated for other cancer types."
"There isn’t a lot to go off in existing research about the impact of exercise on people who’ve been treated for head and neck cancer, so we decided to do this research ourselves.”
Dr Grainne Sheill, 36, is a Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist in Cancer Rehabilitation in St James’s Hospital, Dublin. She is currently working on an Irish Cancer Society-funded project looking at how to encourage people who have been treated for head and neck cancer to engage in exercise, and the impact this can have on their recovery.
“The main aim is to explore the role of physical activity in recovery from head and neck cancer,” says Dr Sheill, who is originally from Lucan and now lives in Castleknock. “We did a national survey and qualitative interviews looking at what barriers people recovering from head and neck cancer face, and they identified health and fitness.
“We decided to run a group just for people who head and neck cancers which wasn’t just about exercise, we also had a lymphoedema specialist and we connected them with other services that could help them.
“We know patients with head and neck cancer can find it very hard to exercise, because of fatigue related to their treatment and their other symptoms including dry mouth. But we also know there is a huge benefit to people recovering from head and neck cancer exercising. It can help to manage side effects of their treatment, like cancer fatigue.”
Many of the patients have undergone surgery where bone and skin from other parts of their body have been used for reconstructive surgery on their head and neck, and they can find it hard to engage in physical activity after this.
“Some patients are very conscious about being active again, because they might look different or speak in a different way compared to when they last exercised,” says Dr Sheill, who won the Health Research Board’s Emerging Clinician Scientist Award in December 2024.
“When we did the survey, we found that some patients didn’t want to be exercising in public or go to a gym – they wanted to be around others with the same cancer type. So we set up a class that is almost like a safe space for people who have had treatment for head and neck cancer.
"The big thing in these patients is that they can lose a lot of weight because their cancer type means that they can find it difficult to eat, as their taste and appetite can be affected."
“They can also lose a huge amount of muscle mass – and it’s hard to exercise when you’re finding it hard to eat. But we want to build them back up, in a gradual way where we balance their nutrition with their exercise.”
Dr Sheill hopes that the project will create more specific research into the use of physical activity as a way of helping people to recover after being treated for head and neck cancer, while also improving the patients’ quality of life, fitness and symptom management.
