Download Up Company by Therapist Awards the first Urban Poling Scholarship

Start Up Company by Therapist Awards the first Urban Poling Scholarship for
Breast Cancer Research
When Urban Poling Inc. started six years ago, occupational therapist Mandy Shintani and
her business partner Graham Watts had big visions for their small, Vancouver-based startup company. They strived to bring a new fitness trend to Canada from Scandinavian - they
coined this activity “urban poling” (aka Nordic walking). In addition to promoting the many
health benefits of urban poling as a form of exercise, their goal was to find a way to fund
evidence-based research in the area of rehabilitation.
Since the majority of Urban Poling’s customer base is women in the 30-65 age group, they
discovered tremendous enthusiasm among their own instructors and customers to support a
campaign to raise funds for breast cancer research.
Based on the success of the hot pink 4Life Urban poles, the company was very excited to
announce the first Urban Poling Inc. Scholarship has been awarded to Sarah Neil. Sarah is a
graduate student (Master of Rehabilitation Science degree) at UBC, under the supervision of
Dr. Kristin Campbell. She is using the scholarship funds to complete her thesis research
project at UBC on the role of exercise throughout the cancer continuum of prevention,
treatment and survivorship. Five percent of the 4Life pole sales were used to help fund this
observational study examining physiological differences between breast cancer survivors
who are experiencing chronic fatigue after treatment and breast cancer survivors who do
not experience fatigue. Sarah hopes to complete her degree this summer and begin her PhD
in September 2011.
And Urban Poling plans to continue supporting great research projects like Sarah! They have
now developed a new therapy walking pole, called the Activator, which is currently being
used by occupational and physiotherapists with clients with chronic conditions (including
cancer), clients recovering from injuries or surgery, and older adults with stability and
balance issues. Early research into the use of the Activator poles is also promising.
For more information on the Urban Poling scholarship, research studies on the benefits of
urban poling and the Activator poles for therapy, please visit www.urbanpoling.com