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History of Breast Cancer Dragon Boating
Breast cancer survivors first began dragon boating in 1996 in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). The following information is used, with permission, from the official website of that first team, Abreast In A Boat.
Dr. Don McKenzie, a sports medicine physician at the University of British Columbia, launched Abreast In A Boat in Vancouver in 1996 to test the myth that repetitive upper-body exercise in women treated for breast cancer encourages lymphedema. 
Dr. McKenzie believed that by following a special exercise and training program, women could avoid lymphedema and enjoy active, full lives. As we followed his program, we were carefully monitored by a sports medicine physician, a physiotherapist and a nurse. Dr. McKenzie's theory was proven correct. No new cases of lymphedema occurred and none of the existing cases became worse. From a medical study involving one boat of 25 women in 1996, the organization has now grown to include five boats based in Vancouver and has inspired many other teams to form.
Read articles about the medical history of Abreast In A Boat in the Canadian Medical Association Journal: August 1998 | October 2002
Why We Paddle
Abreast In A Boat finds the dragon boat experience is helping their healing, and Busting with Energy™ agrees with these statements from their website: Through the strenuous demands of dragon boat paddling, we have learned that we can push the limits of our physical endurance and have fun doing it. We have grown stronger as individuals and as a group. We began as strangers with only our disease in common; now we are best friends and an emotional support network for each other, our friends, and our communities. Our dream is to continue to encourage all those living with breast cancer all over the world to live full and active lives.
Our dragon boat experience is helping our healing:
 it helps us regain control of our lives
it shows our families and friends we can live our lives the way we choose
it reminds us to make the most of every moment
it creates a new state of wellness in each of us
it demands the best of us both physically and mentally
it helps us overcome the loneliness of cancer
it creates a safety net in the event of a recurrence
it gives us pride in our accomplishments
it shows us we can undertake strenuous exercise without developing lymphedema
it enables us to move on with our lives
it creates a new balance in our lives
it encourages us to share our experience with others
How to Start a Team
Visit the website of Abreast In A Boat, from Vancouver, and click on the link for "Starting a Team".
Contact the False Creek Racing Canoe Club (FCRCC), for information on coaching clinics in Vancouver.
Alan Carlsson (alan.carlsson@shaw.ca), who has been affiliated with the FCRCC, produces an excellent manual on the dragon boat technique.
You can also contact the FCRCC for information on steering and drumming.
Exercise & Breast Cancer
Why the Dragon Boat Experience is Important for Women Living with Breast Cancer - by Abreast In A Boat team member Susan Harris
Approximately 2 million women in North America are currently living with breast cancer. As part of the medical management of this disease, the vast majority of these women had lymph nodes surgically removed from their underarms in a procedure known as axillary dissection. The goal of that procedure is to find out if the cancer has spread to the lymphatic system. Many of these women have also undergone radiation therapy to the breast and/or underarm. These two procedures dramatically increase a woman's risk of developing chronic lymphedema - a permanent, irreversible and sometimes incapacitating swelling of the involved arm and chest area. Lymphedema can develop at any time following breast cancer surgery - from within one month after treatment to 30 years later.
Well-meaning physicians and physiotherapists often caution these women to refrain from lifting more than 10-15 pounds with the involved upper extremity; to avoid certain sports, such as canoeing, water-skiing and specific swimming strokes, such as breast stroke or butterfly; and to refrain from repetitive activities, such as knitting or raking. The "contra-indications": limit both the quality and enjoyment of life for women who otherwise feel and look quite healthy - and there is, as yet, no research to suggest whether or not these activities actually lead to lymphedema.
Dragon boat racing is a very strenuous, repetitive physical activity that stresses the muscles of the trunk and upper extremities. To prepare for this activity, the coaches for Abreast In A Boat (a sports medicine physician, a physiotherapist and a nurse) outlined a six-week, three-pronged training program for the Team members – including stretching, progressive upper extremity strength training and aerobic exercises - to be carried out in advance of our training in the dragon boats themselves. In addition, some of the women were measured for and wore special compression sleeves on their involved arms to minimize the threat of lymphedema.
To assess whether arm swelling was occurring, arm circumference measurements were taken for all team members prior to beginning the on-water training mid-way through the six-week training, and just before the final races. Two team members with pre-existing lymphedema were also monitored carefully in this manner.
Not only did Abreast In A Boat (the only all-women's team in the Novice Division and probably the only team with five grandmothers!) make a very respectable showing at the World Championship Dragon Boat Festival in Vancouver in June, 1996, but they were also awarded the David C. Lam Award for community/team spirit. Furthermore, not one woman on the team showed any ill effects from this very strenuous sport. There were no increases in arm circumferences (i.e. no lymphedema for the women without previous problems and there were no adverse changes in the women who had pre-existing lymphedema).¹ To quote Dr. Don McKenzie, sports medicine physician and exercise physiologist at the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre at the University of British Columbia and the originator and driving force behind this unique team: "It was a small medical miracle...these women demonstrated the benefits of exercise, both physically and emotionally, in their success at dragon boat racing."²
The "success" of our dragon boat adventure sends a loud and clear message to the millions of women currently living with breast cancer - that you can partake in a fun-filled and strenuous athletic activity, providing you undergo progressive exercise training prior to competition.³ It is our dream to spread this good news message by competing in other dragon boat races throughout the world and by challenging other breast cancer survivors to compete against us, thus sharing the true camaraderie and joie de vivre we have experienced as the first-ever dragon boat team composed entirely of breast cancer survivors.
¹ Harris SR, Niesen-Vertommen SL. Challenging the myth of exercise- induced lymphedema in breast cancer: A series of case reports. Journal of Surgical Oncology. 2000;74:95-99.
² McKenzie DC. Abreast In A Boat - A race against breast cancer. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 1998;159:376-378.
³ Harris SR, Hugi M, Olivotto I, & Levine M. Clinical practice guidelines for the care and treatment of breast cancer. 11. Lymphedema. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2001; 164:191-199.
 Susan Harris is a physiotherapist and Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Since her initial breast cancer diagnosis in 1994, Susan has become an avid researcher in examining safe levels of exercise for women living with breast cancer. She is the primary author of the recently published clinical guidelines on management of breast cancer-related lymphedema in the Canadian Medical Association Journal ( January 2001 ). As part of the Dragon Boat experience, Susan has greatly enjoyed watching "the joy of training and competing with many women who were previously non-athletes".
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