In this 32nd volume of Surfing Medicine we take a glimpse at the future and respect the past. Surfing injuries at the Pipeline Masters is an analysis of data collated by surf doc Leland Dao, DO, who has long been that contest’s medical director. Arguably the most prestigious event on the WSL Championship Tour, the best surfers in […]
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The Pipe Masters is the final event of the World Surf League Men’s World Championship Tour. We analyzed surfing-injuries documented by the onsite Medical Team during the Pipe Masters competitions over the 5-year period (2013-2017). The sum of all acute injuries treated during the study-period and sum of all surfer-heats (athlete exposures) were used to calculate an […]
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A 48-year-old surfer sustained a 1cm linear laceration to his anterior lower leg while surfing. The waves were 3-4 feet the water temperature was 58℉ (14℃), and turbid. The surfer stated he was surfing over a rocky bottom, bumped his leg against something, and continued surfing. Upon removing his wetsuit, he noted a small linear […]
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It is with much sadness that we write this tribute to SMA member and surf doctor extraordinaire, Terry Farrell, DO, who died unexpectedly while mountain biking near his home in Maine on September 22, 2018 at age 61. Terry was an emergency physician in York, ME and was an avid surfer, swimmer, and boater. Though […]
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Surfing USA: an epidemiological study of surfing injuries presenting to US EDs 2002 to 2013. From the surfing mecca of Rochester, NY comes a thorough epidemiologic study of surfing injuries presenting to emergency departments across the US. While a number of surfing-injury studies have been hospital-based, they all looked at injuries from a single hospital.1,2,3 This is the first
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Here at SM headquarters, we often have some interesting flotsam, (in this case ambergris), that crosses our bow. A few years ago, we received a large beat-up cardboard box containing the original, handwritten letters from the “Ask the surf Docs” column of Surfermagazine circa 1989, edited by our own Mark Renneker, MD. Some of the better letters […]
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As we pull together this Summer 2018 issue of Surfing Medicine the common theme that emerges from the great blue abyss is death. Try as we may to avert our gaze, there seems to be no avoiding it. “No other option” is a beautifully rendered, heartfelt, true story about a near-death surfing experience in Mexico […]
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It was the summer of 1970 and I had just graduated from Glendale High School in California. I had been working at the Glendale YMCA as a lifeguard and a swimming instructor for two years, and just finished teaching a Water Safety Instructors class. My younger brother Jim was one of my students. I talked […]
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