Breast Cancer Survivors Paddle Dragon Boat Races
Paddling as a Team Sport Benefits Health & Recovery After Surgery
Aug 12, 2009
Women who have had breast cancer and have undergone lumpectomies or mastectomies may also suffer from lymphedema – a build up of fluid from trauma to the lymph system. Because of this possibility, breast cancer patients historically have not been encouraged to do strenuous exercise.
According to the Canadian Medical Journal article "Abreast in a Boat – a race against breast cancer" in 1998 by sports medicine physician, Dr. Don McKenzie, from the University of British Columbia in Canada, that may be changing. Through McKenzie's research project, the team sport of Dragon Boat Racing was introduced to breast cancer survivors in British Columbia. The women who participated not only gained physical strength, but also found that the team sport of Dragon Boat Racing enhanced their general well being during and after chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Sports Medicine Physician McKenzie Organizes Dragon Boat Team
As a sports medicine physician and kayaking enthusiast, McKenzie thought lymphedema associated with breast cancer surgery could be better controlled if women were involved in a regimen of regular, intensive upper body exercises.
In 1996, McKenzie began the research project organized around the team sport of Dragon Boat Racing. McKenzie states that this particular team sport was used because it had “...strenuous, repetitive upper body activity...” and less risk of injury than other sports because of its non-weight-bearing activity.
McKenzie believed if breast cancer survivors learned the proper technique of paddling and also engaged in warm-up strategies, they would generally benefit from the exercise that would carry over to other activities of daily life. What he found was not only did the Dragon Boat Racing positively affect the physical recovery of breast cancer survivors, but also enhanced the mental and emotional recovery from this devastating diagnosis.
Hope in the Boat – Dragon Boat Team in Upstate New York
In 2007, after reading about Dragon Boat teams, Lucille Allegretti-Freeman, who was completing chemotherapy treatment and looking at the prospect of radiation therapy, decided to submit articles to two local breast cancer agencies hoping other women would join her in starting a Dragon Boat Racing team. After an article appeared in the local newspaper, 16 women showed up for the first practice.
Not having a boat, but having the Hudson River at their doorstep, the women practiced for the first year using a picnic table on land near the river as their first "boat". Sitting on the sides of the picnic table and using their paddles, the newly formed Hope in the Boat team could begin to practice the synchronized paddling movements as well as build their stamina. For their very first race in 2008 on Lake Mercer in Princeton Junction New Jersey, the "picnic table paddlers" were in the water in a Dragon Boat for the first time the day before competing in the Paddle for Pink Race.
The team now has more than 20 members from six counties surrounding Albany NY and range in age from their mid-40s to 80 years old. The team raised enough money through various fundraisers in 2008 to purchase their own Dragon Boat that was delivered just in time to start spring practice in May 2009.
Some of the guiding principles for Hope in the Boat Dragon Boat Team:
- to provide camaraderie, comfort, and information to each other
- to provide a unique way to get together with other survivors
- to challenge themselves physically in an exciting team sport where they are all doing the same thing at the same time
- to see themselves as athletes, not patients
Dragon Boat Racing Benefits Breast Cancer Survivors
What began as a research study in 1996 in Vancouver, British Columbia, has become the standard bearer for an increased exercise regimen for many breast cancer survivors. Dragon Boat Racing brings breast cancer survivors together for improved health and well being that also promotes a new awareness of breast cancer to the world.
With its humble beginnings as a research project, Dragon Boat Racing as a support group for breast cancer survivors now has teams around the world. Women who participate find new energy and enthusiasm for their physical and mental well being through the team sport of Dragon Boat Racing.
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