Surfing Injuries: A Review for the Orthopaedic Surgeon.

JBJS Rev · Apr 05 2021 · Review

Bickley RJ, Belyea CM, Harpstrite JK, Min KS

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii

Spine

SUMMARY — THE REDUCTIONThis review finds surfing has a relatively low injury rate, with lacerations, contusions, and sprains to the head, neck, and lower extremities most common, plus surfer's myelopathy and marine-life injuries as unique risks.
Abstract, as published

»: Surfing is safe: the risk of injury ranges from 0.26 to 0.90 injuries per surfer per year, 0.06 to 3.5 injuries per 1,000 days of surfing, and 1.1 to 13.0 injuries per 1,000 hours of surfing.

»: The most common acute surfing injuries are lacerations, contusions, and sprains; the head and the neck as well as the lower extremities are the locations that are affected most.

»: The most common mechanism of injury is striking a surfer's own board or that of another surfer.

»: A pathology that is unique to surfers is surfer's myelopathy; bites and/or stings by sea life and infections caused by marine life also occur in surfers.

Read the article: PubMed · Publisher (DOI)

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