Do you know the most common injuries in surfing?
Surfing is a sport with many repetitive motions. Almost one third of surfers are suffering from an injury on a yearly basis, and most injuries are due to paddling.
Surfers spend approximately half of the time paddling during a surf session and lying stationary accounts for 28-42 % of the total time spent in the water. The majority of the time the surfer is in the water, he or she is lying in prone position with hyper extension in the lumbar and cervical spine. Whilst paddling, the dominant movement of the shoulder is internal rotation, while pulling and pushing the body through the water. Imbalanced training and overuse injuries might be the result and possible contributes to the fact that many suffers from injuries of the neck, lumbar spine and shoulder.
Injuries can also happend during other aspects of surfing, for example an acute injury due to a fall. Laceration injuries to the head, face, neck or lower extremity is the most common acute injuries for surfers. Surfers being struck by their own surfboard or striking the seafloor or sea surface is the most common injury mechanism for laceration, contusions, concussion and other head injuries. Other acute injuries for surfers can be ligament injuries and muscular injuries in the shoulder, knee or ankle. Acute knee injuries include anterior cruciate ligament tears and meniscus injuries, due to a inapproriate landing on the surfboard.