Dragon boating is a popular sport throughout the world involving races in standard 12.66-metre long boats with dragon-shaped heads and tails, propelled by the paddles of 20 athletes to the measured beat of a drum.

What the project involves

The Dragonette are a spontaneous group of women who have had breast surgery and have decided to take up dragon boating. The group attracts more and more people who have gone through the same journey in practising this sport, with attention to individual cases and needs.

The project is part of the international “Abreast in a boat” movement, which was conceived in the 1990s by a group of doctors from the Centre for Sports Medicine to demonstrate the benefits of sport for breast cancer patients who have had surgery.

Expected Outcomes

  • Positively influencing the production, metabolism, and excretion of female hormones through sport to reduce the risk of breast cancer and/or its recurrence
  • Stimulating an active and peaceful post-operative recovery
  • Identifying more effective predictive assessment models and techniques for the early diagnosis and monitoring of lymphoedema

The beneficiaries

The Association has more than 60 active members but is constantly growing and aims to reach as many women as possible affected by the disease, given that 55,700 new cases of breast cancer were recorded in Italy in 2022 (AIOM data).

 

Project name: COMBATTI IL LINFEDEMA A COLPI DI PAGAIA
Proposing organisation: Dragonette Torino Onlus
Area of intervention: Health & Welfare
Country: Italy