Surf Medicine: Surfing as a Means of Therapy for Combat-Related Polytrauma

Development of a Wet Suit for Children With Down's Syndrome

“…Pre-and posttesting of these children using a battery of tests from the Brockport Physical Fitness Manual (Winnick & Short, 1999) determined that there was a significant improvement in strength, flexibility, and cardiorespiratory endurance during the months of the program. These physiological adaptations were consistent with the literature on the benefits of surfing for the disabled participant that have previously been reported (Fleischmann, et al, 2011).…”

“When I Go There, I Feel Like I Can Be Myself.” Exploring Programme Theory within the Wave Project Surf Therapy Intervention

“…Physical activity interventions that use surfing as a vehicle to achieve positive change (including enhanced mental health), have been termed as ‘surf therapy.’ The recently formed International Surf Therapy Organisation has highlighted how iterations of surf therapy exist within health, social and developmental settings. Studies focused on surf therapy, have primarily prioritised testing and demonstrating effectiveness [10,11,12,13,14,15]. This focus has been necessitated by the sector’s emergent nature alongside the need for intervention funding and sustainability by primarily charitable organisations.…”

“…This focus has been necessitated by the sector’s emergent nature alongside the need for intervention funding and sustainability by primarily charitable organisations. There is a growing body of evidence to demonstrate that surf therapy is effective in improving comparable mental health outcomes across different populations in a wide range of contexts including vulnerable young people [12,13,14], disability [14], and military veterans [10,15]. Findings from these studies have demonstrated a strong association between surf therapy and positive mental health outcomes.…”

Surfing for Social Integration: Mental Health and Well-Being promotion through Surf Therapy among Institutionalized Young People

“…Other projects exist that use the same paradigm of surf therapy with other populations, appearing in literatures sometime with other designations as "ocean therapy" [10], "surf medicine" [11] or "intervention through surfing" [12]. On one hand, there are projects focussing on children and youth with developmental disorders and/ or other disabilities, which sometimes are under the umbrella of "adapted surf ".…”

“…These projects assessment validated surf therapy as a way to decrease internalised symptoms and increase self-confidence, self-esteem, social skills, motivation about physical activity, [5,12,13] self-control, cooperation, responsibility, involvement [14] and social inclusion [12]. On the other hand, there are projects working through surf with addiction disorders, with war veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder, depression [10] and combat-related poly-trauma [11], validating surf therapy as a relevant form of holistic treatment.…”