It is heartening to see that the field of surfing medicine is sufficiently mature that not just one, but two reviews of the existing literature have recently been published. The reviews, both involving researchers at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia cover acute surfing injuries and overuse/chronic surfing injuries.
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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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This excellent article, appearing in the March 2018 issue of the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine highlights 17 years of clinical experience of the World Surfing League’s (formerly ASP) medical director, Warren Kramer, MD. Dr. Kramer, an orthopedic surgeon in Newport Beach, CA has long been the go-to physician for professional surfers around the world. […]
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In much of the world some of the best surf is found in the days following a good storm. Unfortunately, storms are often accompanied by heavy rains which flush bacteria and other undesirable goodies into the ocean. Have you ever been concerned that you might swallow some of that water nasty-looking water and get sick? […]
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“In addition to the speed at which they move, these sea urchins are clever and sensitive with their spines. When approached, the long sharp little spears all move and aim their points at the approaching body until the animal is armed like a Macedonian phalanx….The prick of one of the points burned like a bee […]
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Stingrays primarily inhabit shallow tropical to semi-tropical waters with sandy bottoms, so it is no surprise that we surfers often cross paths with these evil-looking bottom feeders. Indeed certain locales, such as Nosara, Costa Rica, Southern California, and New Zealand’s North Island are infamous for their large populations of rays. Though, closely related to sharks they share none of the dentition or
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Just like its sometimes fun to ride an old board that hasn’t seen the light of day for a few years, here at SM headquarters we’ll occasionally dust off an old issue of the Journal and revisit an article that particularly strikes our fancy. ‘Course cutting-edge medicine changes a bit over time, so we may […]
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Case Presentation I didn’t start surfing until my early 20’s, but once the bug hit, it hit hard and I began plying the chilly waters of New England year-round. By the age of 40, I noticed that the earpiece of my stethoscope was bumping up against something in my right ear canal. When I stuck […]
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Surfing is perhaps the oldest “extreme sport” in existence, and though its precise origins are unknown, most authorities agree that the sport originated in Polynesia over 800 years ago. The first written accounts of surfing appear in the journals of English explorer Captain James Cook, who witnessed Tahitians body surfing and riding waves in outrigger canoes in 1777 […]
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