Benefits
An initial pilot training program for Toni Triplett’s Canadian Wheelchair Dance Academy was held in the fall of 2007, at the Kinsmen Recreation Centre in Tsawwassen and was received enthusiastically by participants, one of whom commented that she never thought she would dance again.
The physical benefits of wheelchair dancing improve and enhance wheelchair users physical balance, range of motion, flexibility, and respiratory control. Wheelchair dancers have reported feeling more confident and able-bodied, and some have even reported needing less physical therapy, due to the exercise they get during practice. Wheelchair users who are fit both mentally and physically tend to need fewer medications and in some cases no medications.
From a therapeutic recreation perspective, benefits can include:
• A leisure pursuit one with any level of SCI could participate in – individually, on their own – as part of a group, with their partner/spouse or with family member or friends
• Enhanced or Improved quality of life
• Promote community integration
• Increase life and leisure satisfaction
• Elevate emotional wellbeing
• Fun, enjoyment
• Increase strength and endurance
• Return to previously loved leisure pursuit
• Currently there is no formalised program for dance for folks with an sci that GFS is aware of
• Promotes health and wellness – physical activity – physical exercise improves mobility, decreases physical dependency (on others), improves social integration; it can improve health physiologically, emotionally
• Promotes opportunities for social interaction thereby decreasing social isolation
• “A lack of physical fitness for specific tasks can be a serious obstacle to autonomy following SCI…Quality of life is closely associated with independent living and, increasingly, it is a key outcome when measuring the success of rehabilitation.” L. Noreau, RJ Shephard Dept. of Physiotherapy, Laval University, Quebec, Canada. Sports Med. 1995 Oct. 20 (4)
• In a study “Predictors of life satisfaction: a spinal cord injury cohort study (Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2002) …”Mobility and perceived health appear to be the consistent predictors of life satisfaction aat year two post SCI…because both factors are amenable to change, they are reasonable targets for intervention programs…” Putzke JD, Richards JS, Hicken BL, DeVivo MJ