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About



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 SMAsix-waves-of-the-sma

  1. The first wave goal is to educate surfers about health issues so that they can spend maximal time surfing and minimal time seeing doctors.
  2. The second wave goal is to conduct and support research regarding the connection between surfing and health
  3. The third wave goal is to represent the activity of surfing in the fields of medicine, health-care and science.
  4. 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.
  5. The fifth wave goal is to create, around the world, a network of surfing health-care professionals and “barefoot doctors”.
  6. The sixth wave goal is to protect and preserve the surfers’ natural environment including the waves, the ocean, and our beaches.

Summer 2018 Issue #31 Table of Contents

  • Letter from the Editor
  • No Other Options (a true story)
  • Big Wave Surfing: A physician’s perspective
  • Origins of the Paddle Out Ceremony
  • Case Report: 63 y.o. male surfer “found down”
  • What Happened to Zika?
  • Orthopedic Injuries in Professional Surfers: A Retrospective Study at a Single Orthopedic Center

Summer/Fall 2017 Issue #30 Table of Contents

  • Letter from the Editor
  • Don’t Eat the Fish!
  • A Surfing Life
  • The SMA Barefoot Doctor Course
  • The Surfer Health Study
  • Terry Farrell Interview
  • Case Report: Eye Trauma from a Surfboard

Summer 2016 Issue #29 Table of Contents

  • Letter from the Editor
  • Catching Waves: Perspectives of Physicians Who Surf
  • Should you Frika about Zika?
  • Case Report: A 29-Year-Old Female Surfer with a Thigh Laceration
  • Case Report: Central Cord Syndrome in a Bodyboarder
  • Images from Surfing Medicine
  • Druku’s Life
  • Druku: SMA Remembers a Great Man
  • SMA Conference Report – Nicaragua 2016

Summer 2015 Issue #28 Table of Contents

  • Letter from the Editor: Surfing Medicine to the Extreme
  • Sun Protection for Surfers
  • Cold Water Surfing and Hypothermia
  • 2013 Triple Crown + HIC Pro Injury Report
  • Wanna pee on my Wana? Sea Urchin Injuries, a Literature Review
  • Larger Than Life, Don James, MD
  • Granny and Doc
  • SMA Nicaragua Conference Report, May 28 – June 4, 2015

Winter 2014-15 Issue #27 Table of Contents

  • Letter from the Editor
  • Beware the Devil Fish – “Don’t tread on me”
  • SURF: A Unified Surfing Competition Medical Reference Form
  • Surf Stronger, Paddle Longer
  • Sea Ulcers
  • The SMA Scholarship Program
  • Tavi 2014 Summary
  • ASLS Portugal Conference

Fall 2013 Issue #26 Table of Contents

  • A Message from the (new) Editor
  • Case Report: A Nicaraguan Stowaway
  • Knee Injuries in the Barrel: How Heavy and Deep Can You Go?
  • Concussions in Surfers
  • Surfer’s Ear – The Bane of Cold Water Surfers
  • Surfing Injuries – Literature Review
  • Keeping the Stoke: Dealing with Declining Competence in the Aging Surfer
  • Helping Vets to Feel the Healing Waters

Fall 2019 Issue #32 Table of Contents

  • Letter from the Editor
  • Surfing Injuries at the Pipe Masters 2013-2017
  • A Non-Healing Surf-Wound
  • Images in Surfing Medicine
  • Terry Farrell Tribute
  • Surfing USA, a Literature Review
  • The Baker: Archives of the SMA

Fall 2020 Issue #33 Table of Contents

  • Letter from the Editor
  • In the Midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Should Surfers Continue to Surf?
  • Improving Safety in Surfing
  • Case Report: Widespread Pruritic Papules after Bodyboarding in Long Island
  • Case Report: Severe Fin Laceration
  • Tourniquets and Hemorrhage Control

Fall 2022 Issue #35 Table of Contents

  • Message from the Editor, 2022
  • Life Rolls On
  • Beware the Leash: Seymour Fracture of the Finger
  • Bill Jones Ph.D, in Memoria
  • The Old Man and the Sea: Video on Surfiatrics from the 2022 World Congress on Extreme Sports Medicine
  • Common Surfing Injuries: Video on Surfing Injuries from the 2022 World Congress on Extreme Sports Medicine
  • Images in Surf Medicine
  • Literature Review: Is Surfer’s myelopathy an acute hyperextension-induced myelopathy? A systematic synthesis of case studies and proposed diagnostic criteria.
  • 2022 Magdalena Bay Conference Report

Fall 2021 Issue #34 Table of Contents

  • Letter from the Editor
  • Impact of SMA Conferences on Wellbeing
  • Surfing and Health in the Covid-19 Era: A Narrative Review
  • Case Report: Femur Fracture in a Kitesurfer
  • Images in Surfing Medicine
  • Characteristics of Surfers as Bystander Rescuers in Europe
  • Acute Injuries in Surfing: A Systematic Review
  • Mag Bay 2021

Browse by Category

  • Acute Surfing Injury (22)
  • Assorted Flotsam and Jetsam (6)
  • Case Report (13)
  • Chronic Surfing Injury (9)
  • Conference Report (1)
  • Conferences (2)
  • Environmental Injury (10)
  • History of Surfing Medicine (2)
  • Images in Surfing Medicine (2)
  • Infectious Disease (5)
  • Letter from the Editor (10)
  • Literature Review (9)
  • Original Research (6)
  • Other (4)
  • Rehabilitation (3)
  • Surfing Conferences (6)
  • Travel Medicine (5)
  • Uncategorized (1)

Tag Cloud

Abscess ACL repair Aging Auditory Exostosis Big Wave Surfing Botfly Central America Concussion Conference Report Dangerous Marine Animals Dermatobium Homonis Drowning Evacuation External Auditory Exostosis Femur fractur Head Injury injury kitesurfing Knee Injury Literature review: Surfing Injuries Marine Envenomations Message from Editor Nambila Paddle Out Ceremony Palliative Care Pro Surfing Rehabilitation Sea Ulcer Stingray Summer Surfer's Ear Surfing Surfing Death Surfing Injury Surfing Therapy Swimmer's Ear Tavarua Veterans Vets

Copyright Notice

All written content on this website is the copyright of the Surfer's Medical Association. Material may not be reproduced for commercial or non-commercial uses without express permission from editor. Contact the Editor to request the appropriate permission.

© 2022

Contact the Editor

Contact the editor at ANathanson@Lifespan.org.

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