Surfing Injuries

Lacerations to the head, leg and foot are the most common injuries, usually when your own boards hits you or somebody else's : the rudder, fins are quite sharp and these will do damage in contact (ouch). Contact with the ocean floor, rocks or beach litter (yuk) can also cause injuries.

The second most common injuries are soft tissue ones, acute strains, contusions to the lumbar and cervical spine, shoulder, knee and ankle. There are frequent fractures : mainly the head, teeth and ribs.

Ears and eyes too : eyes from too much UV reflecting from the sun onto the water and then onto the eyes ; also the drying effect of the wind plus the eye's exposure to salt water. For ears, if you have a wipeout then your eardrum can become perforated. Bony growths can also appear in the external ear canal as a result of exposure to cold water and wind rushing in and out of the ear canal. This can eventually result in a decrease in hearing : this is known as surfers ear.

The wipeout can cause bad injuries often musculoskeletal ones :

• over-flexion of the cervical spine or lumber spine
• shoulder depression
• knee, ankle, ligament and joint injuries can occur at take off when falling from a big drop
• overuse of certain muscle groups again can create injury - too much paddling

Lessening the chances of injury

• Hard plastic or rubber guards fixed to the front of the board will lessen the impact in a wipeout.
• A good thick wetsuit will soften protect the body from hard landings
• A hood will help protect the ears and keep the cold out .
• A longer leash in big waves is a good thing as the board is less likely to hit you

Training

Flexibility is the key, try and stretch for 10 minutes on the beach before you paddle out : this will be really helpful. Squatting and upper body strength exercises are useful.