Surfing Medicine – the journal of the Surfer’s Medical Association, disseminates international scholarly research pertaining to the broad field of surfer’s health. It also serves to support the six waves of the SMA’s mission, listed below. Topics of interest to the journal include but are not limited to acute surfing injuries, overuse injuries, tropical diseases, hazardous marine life, travel medicine, environmental injuries (e.g. hypothermia, sun exposure, salt water exposure), fitness and rehabilitation, surfing physiology, nutrition, mental health, injury prevention, rescue and resuscitation, and community outreach. Its audience includes a diverse, international group of physicians, medical students and allied health care professionals with an interest in improving the health care of surfers.
Since its inception Surfing Medicine has been a pier-reviewed journal – meaning that articles submitted are passed around to surfers hanging out under the pier to see if they pass muster. The wizened old surfers under the pier may scrape a little wax off a manuscript, patch up a ding, or even send it back to it’s shaper if it is in particularly bad shape. For authors interested in submitting a manuscript for review see Authors Tab on the primary navigation bar.
Categories of articles accepted for submission include:
- Original research
- Case reports
- Review articles
- Images in surf medicine
- Conference reports
- Training and rehabilitation
- Original artwork/photos
- Interviews
- Book reviews
- Synopses of relevant research appearing in other publications.
The Six Waves of the SMA
- The first wave goal is to educate surfers about health issues so that they can spend maximal time surfing and minimal time seeing doctors.
- The second wave goal is to conduct and support research regarding the connection between surfing and health
- The third wave goal is to represent the activity of surfing in the fields of medicine, health-care and science.
- The fourth wave goal is to teach health-care providers about the unique trauma and disease problems of surfers and how to care for them.
- The fifth wave goal is to create, around the world, a network of surfing health-care professionals and “barefoot doctors”.
- The sixth wave goal is to protect and preserve the surfers’ natural environment including the waves, the ocean, and our beaches.