2022 has been a year of transitions for the SMA. Our fearless leader for the last decade, Mary Showstark, PAC stepped down from her role as executive director and is being replaced by Kure beach heavy, Deric Weiss, MD, currently residing in Wilmington, NC. Mary helped transition us into the digital age and navigated us through

Since its inception, hundreds, or perhaps thousands of years ago, when the first person laid on a wooden plank and rode a wave to shore, the sport of surfing has been in a continuous state of evolution. The heavy wooden boards ridden by ancient Hawaiians were eventually modified to include a single tail fin. Boards became […]

All Covid, all the time, or at least that’s what it feels like to me as an emergency physician on the East Coast of the US. But of course, whatever you do and wherever you surf, the global pandemic has affected you. And, unfortunately, it seems far from over. Way back in May, I asked my wizened uncle, 92-year-old professor emeritus […]

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 […]

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 […]

A wizened old surfer observing idle young groms once said, “Youth is wasted on the young” – or perhaps it was Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. No matter. The fact is, that as we get older, we yearn for the flexibility, strength and quickness of our youth. True that 60 is the new 50, and […]