Project Stoke

I am proud to share that Groundswell Community Project and the Pain Trauma Institute have completed 2 out of 4 surf therapy sessions, which are the first stage of USC’s Project Stoke ( Surf Therapy for Chronic Pain in the Ocean with Kinesthetic Engineering.) This study is led by Dr. Jason Kutch at the University of Southern California. Dr. Kutch states “We are motivated by recent insights into how the immersive environment of ocean wave surfing appears to give a profound respite from the symptoms of disorders of neural function, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Our prior work has extensively characterized the patterns of neural dysfunction in patients with multiple Chronic Overlapping Pain Conditions (COPCs) and has related these patterns to stress and trauma.” 

 Dr. Kutch explains, “In this pilot project, we aim to build a multidisciplinary team that can use neuroscience and engineering approaches to understand and develop these therapeutic effects. We will approach this work with two complementary Specific Aims. In Aim 1a, we will address the question of whether 6 weeks of surfing therapy reduces pain and neural dysfunction in patients with COPCs. In Aim 1b, we will address how a single surfing session affects well-being and neural connectivity in skilled surfers, to better understand if this approach can continue to promote healthy brain activity. And in Aim 2, we will re-create surfing in an engineered virtual environment, to develop a scientific testbed to identify the source of the therapeutic benefits. Aim 2 directly addresses the emphasis of this call for applications, by identifying lack of ocean access as a barrier to implementation of surfing therapy and testing of a solution to address this problem.”

Dr. Jandra Mueller, Director of Education at Pelvic Health and Rehabilitation, has selected the participants based on meeting certain criteria. Demonstrating the measuring each participant will do, both pre session and post session. Each participant also has a fMRI before the 4-week program and after. This plus the data collected by PTI will help to give a complete picture of the power of Surf Therapy

We will keep you updated as data is evaluated.