Climbing is increasingly being used as therapy
The use of climbing for therapy is no longer a new thing and has been around for years now. Particularly prominent are the examples from the United Kingdom, where there have been several NHS-supported therapeutic climbing programmes afoot in the recent years.
An article in The Guardian from two years ago spoke of therapeutic climbing as a rising trend, quoting, among others, the Austrian psychotherapist – and pioneer in the field of climbing therapy – Julia Hufnagl, along with Forrest Sheldon, a junior fellow at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences, himself a passionate recreational climber.
Hufnagl, who is a former climbing instructor, starts her therapy sessions at a climbing gym, using the inviting appeal of the colourful holds and macros to encourage her patients to, as she explained, come to grips with their problems by exteriorizing them in what becomes a simulation of everyday life. Sheldon explained that climbing helps him get out of his head and that it has become key to his mental health.
As stated on the SHSC (Sheffield Health and Social Care) website:
Indoor climbing and bouldering (a form of climbing that does not use ropes or harnesses) are widely recognised to have a positive impact on mental health. They boost confidence and self-esteem when you have success, promotes communication, problem-solving and overcoming challenges, and helps people to learn about setting personal goals.
Max Ward, consultant clinical psychologist at SHSC, said: “Climbing also hurts. Your feet and hands will be sore, and a lot of the time you will fail at what you try to achieve at first. When you climb, you’re learning that that is okay and how to deal with it when you face with these circumstances.”
The benefits of climbing for our mental wellbeing are not just a fad in one island country. Studies have been pointing out the sports beneficial sides for years now. One such study, “Psychophysical Benefits of Rock-Climbing Activity” conducted at the University of Rome back in 2015, confirmed that anxiety significantly decreased “after each single training session at the end of both courses” (climbing and gym). This means that if you are looking for a swift way to come to grips with your problems and decrease the often paralysing effects of anxiety, climbing is one of the better and healthier ways to do it.
At Wood Plastix, we follow attentively the growth in interest for climbing and the increase in demand for climbing walls and other climbing-related products. We are witnessing the spread of this trend even in countries that haven’t so far had a deep-running climbing tradition, such as the countries of Eastern Europe, or the Balkans, including the home country of Wood Plastix – Serbia – where climbing walls began to appear at certain school gyms. Contractors would do well to keep an eye on this trend, and on our factory as the prime option for partnership as new orders for climbing walls begin arriving from educational, health, military or law-enforcement centres, as well as from private gyms aiming to keep up with the times and provide their usual offer with exciting new additions.
