• Current Issue
  • About Surfing Medicine
    • History
    • About
    • Team
    • Submissions
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • A Call for Submissions
  • Surfer’s Medical Association
  • Archive (1987-2011)

Posts by Surfing Medicine Staff

Life Rolls On

Oct 15, 2022 ~ Author Surfing Medicine Staff

On March 25, 1996, on an average day at Zuma Beach, 17 year-old Jesse Billauer dropped into a wave at the punchy California beach break. He pulled inside a barrel and got thrown headfirst into a shallow sandbar. The impact broke his sixth cervical vertebrae, and he instantly became a quadriplegic. At the time he was one of the

~ read more ~
Posted in Rehabilitation

Literature Review: Is Surfer’s myelopathy an acute hyperextension-induced myelopathy? A systematic synthesis of case studies and proposed diagnostic criteria.

Oct 15, 2022 ~ Author Surfing Medicine Staff

Surfer’s myelopathy is a perplexing condition in which young, healthy, first-time surfers develop a non-traumatic spinal cord injury, sometimes with permanent neurologic sequelae. Why first-time surfers? What is the pathophysiology? What is unique about surfing? Understanding more about this rare but serious condition will help

~ read more ~
Posted in Acute Surfing Injury

Images in Surfing Medicine

Oct 08, 2021 ~ Author Surfing Medicine Staff

30-year-old male who overfoiled (foil lifts above water-level) and crashed at high speed. His foot was grazed by the tail fin (stabilizer) of his foil causing a superficial laceration and contusion to the medial aspect of his right mid-foot as seen in photos above. The wound was irrigated, and steri-strips were placed across the

~ read more ~
Posted in Acute Surfing Injury, Case Report, Images in Surfing Medicine

Case Report: Severe Fin Laceration

Sep 19, 2020 ~ Author Surfing Medicine Staff

A 58 year-old male was wave-sailing (windsurfing in surf) and attempting to come to shore. As he was carrying his gear shoreward he was hit by a breaking wave, and the 33 cm single fin on his board caused a large laceration to his left lower leg. The patient described severe bleeding to his leg which could not be […]

~ read more ~
Posted in Acute Surfing Injury, Case Report

Tourniquets and Hemorrhage Control

Sep 19, 2020 ~ Author Surfing Medicine Staff
on the beach

Bleeding from an injury can be quite alarming, particularly for a surfer in the water where assessing an injury and quantifying the amount of bleeding can be difficult. Any significant bleeding should prompt a return to shore to further assessment. Most hemorrhage can be controlled by applying pressure directly over the wound […]

~ read more ~
Posted in Acute Surfing Injury, Assorted Flotsam and Jetsam

Terry Farrell Tribute

Sep 16, 2019 ~ Author Surfing Medicine Staff
Terry Farrell

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 […]

~ read more ~
Posted in Other

Surfing USA, a Literature Review

Sep 16, 2019 ~ Author Surfing Medicine Staff
Magazine Cover

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

~ read more ~
Posted in Acute Surfing Injury, Literature Review

The Baker: Archives of the SMA

Sep 16, 2019 ~ Author Surfing Medicine Staff
port a potty

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 […]

~ read more ~
Posted in Other

Case Report: 63 y.o. male surfer “found down”

Aug 31, 2018 ~ Author Surfing Medicine Staff
Post-intubation CXR

HPI 63-year-old male surfer in Northern California was found floating in shore break by fellow surfers. He was wearing a full wetsuit and last seen riding a 5-foot wave, perhaps 5 minutes before the incident. When other surfers arrived to assist, the victim was not breathing spontaneously, had limp muscle tone and was blue. He […]

~ read more ~
Posted in Acute Surfing Injury, Case Report - Tagged Drowning, Surfing Death, Surfing Injury

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.

Join SMA

Learn more about Surfer's Medical Association
Top