Surfing related injuries

[Alex44]

I got an hypothermia the first time I surfed in winter...
My mate and I got this great idea to go out in 4/3, no booties, no gloves and no hoods in a 10°C water.

We both ended up blue, couldn't move, and extremely dizzy. Luckily we have been clever enough to go out before we passed out. We managed to stay about 30-40 min. But pretty sure than 10min more would have ended up in a disaster.

It was a great lesson of humility though !

Except that no big injury for me. But the recurring injuries that don't look so good are shoulder dislocations. A few of my friends got that and it looks both scary and painful, definitely not what you are looking for in the water...

[kookRachelle]

Good lord! Sea snakes? Jellyfish? Puncture wounds from your board? Glass fins?!?!

I'm so wet behind the ears, my eyes bugged out at every single one of your stories! I'll tell you mine but they pale in comparison.

Most expensive? 2.5 weeks ago I ignored my limits and went out when hurricane Gert came through. I only paddled out two or three times but was so exhausted that when I came in for good I started dragging my board by the rail saver when I THOUGHT I was practically onshore and in the clear. All I know is I heard the wave rolling up behind me and next thing I know my 8'6 board is flying through the air and the leash bent my finger in an almost 90 degree angle. I thought it was just dislocated so I ran back in to submerge it in the cool water and crack it back in place. I thought that did the trick but 6 days later I finally got an X-ray because the swelling wasn't going down and it still looked crooked. It actually wasn't horribly painful but I'm sure it didn't help that I surfed two days in a row prior to the X-ray. Anyway, pretty bad displaced fracture and ruptured ligament, woopsie. I got surgery on Tuesday and have some pins in there now. Can't get back out there for another 3-4 weeks.

Most embarrassing and painful was when I took a board to my ear. It looked like cauliflower ear and was so bruised - both the ear and the mastoid. A total babe ran up to help grab my board (who cares about me?) and when I asked him if I was bleeding he looked and told me it was probably just wax.

I've had a couple of other non impressive bumps and bruises, and for weeks when I started my knees looked awful. I'm sure I'll have many more too... but hopefully no encounters with snakes or jellyfish!!!

[oldmansurfer]

So Rachelle, how did the surgery go? Are you healed up yet back in the water? wearing a brace? Just an update on my latest injury. I fell doing a floater in shallow water and landed on my elbow. This created some minor injuries (nagging aches) to my back and neck and shoulder. It's been a couple weeks and it seems to have gone back to normal although it pretty much lasted 2 weeks.

[kookRachelle]

So Rachelle, how did the surgery go? Are you healed up yet back in the water? wearing a brace? Just an update on my latest injury. I fell doing a floater in shallow water and landed on my elbow. This created some minor injuries (nagging aches) to my back and neck and shoulder. It's been a couple weeks and it seems to have gone back to normal although it pretty much lasted 2 weeks.

Hey man, thanks for asking! The surgery itself was a breeze. I didn't even need more than a few Aleve afterward. They put in 3 pins and skipped on fixing the ligament saying it should heal on its own once the DIP (fingertip) is aligned and healed. I had this massive lobster claw bandage looking thing when I woke up which I was not too pleased with given my line of work! I was a bad patient and took it off at work during the day, redressing it myself before leaving my office. I am 10 days post op and had a follow up this morning. He was not too pleased with my decision to futz with it, though says I did a good job and the pins are still aligned well. I get those out in another 2 weeks. The only pain in the ass is I am on antibiotics for another week because I changed the bandage. Apparently it puts me at greater risk for infection and if that gets in the bone, I get a PICC (central line) and will need IV antibiotic infusions for weeks. eek I'll be extra careful now. At least that god forsaken thing is off and now I just have a finger splint/bandage. Baby steps! The storm action on the east coast has been awesome so I'm hoping to get back out there in 2-3 weeks to practice and freeze. I'll have to plan a winter trip for sure. Have you been to Panama?

OUCH! I'm sorry to hear but glad it's better. I hope no more niggles to come later. Do you do yoga at all? I feel like people fall more gracefully when they're more limber. But then again I'm sure you were going a solid 70mph! You pro you!

[oldmansurfer]

I haven't been to Panama. I do daily stretches some yoga mostly not yoga. I fell sideways about 1.5 feet including the 6 inches of water that was in front of the wave. I misjudged how much I had to fall thinking my elbow would contact the bottom immediately stopping my fall. I was barely moving and laid down for a turn off the top but decided to eat it instead of attempting to complete the turn thinking I was closer to the bottom and wouldn't fall much. I knew I wasn't going to be able to complete the turn because the timing was off so I guess I figured to just stop there and who knows it might have been much worse if I tried to complete the turn. Anyway I am all better. Hope you heal up without needing a PICC.

[kookRachelle]

I haven't been to Panama. I do daily stretches some yoga mostly not yoga. I fell sideways about 1.5 feet including the 6 inches of water that was in front of the wave. I misjudged how much I had to fall thinking my elbow would contact the bottom immediately stopping my fall. I was barely moving and laid down for a turn off the top but decided to eat it instead of attempting to complete the turn thinking I was closer to the bottom and wouldn't fall much. I knew I wasn't going to be able to complete the turn because the timing was off so I guess I figured to just stop there and who knows it might have been much worse if I tried to complete the turn. Anyway I am all better. Hope you heal up without needing a PICC.

Did you make it to kookslams? JK

I'm waiting to watch and be like "hey... that looks like my board."

I'm still getting out there to watch friends surf (and drink margaritas) and it's nice seeing them have so much fun. It's going to be great tomorrow - not as big as expected but clean and 4-5'

[s6t6e6v6e]

Bad-Crawled up the beach with a totally blown knee, had to straighten it with my hands for 3 months.
Worse- torn carotid artery in an everyday wipe out in shoulder high surf, weeks later the delamination of the artery bulged and caused a blockage that clotted and caused a right side stroke. Collapsed and had to learn to walk again, couldn't stand without 2 people helping for a few weeks. Back in the water again after 2 months but surf like I've never been wet. 3 months in and I can ride a 9ft board and make sweeping turns but shuffle about the board. Had a dull ache deep in the back of my neck for weeks, shouldve had it checked-minor op to put in a stent and would've been fine! No1 cause of strokes in under 45s-usually as a result of a car crash, really rare as a surf injury (surfed daily and gym monster with strong neck).

[jaffa1949]

That is a very nasty set of injuries, with carotid one being in the realm of life threatening

There are rare cases of young new surfers having very rare cervical vertebral artery strokes from the neck position in paddling.

Heal well don‘t ignore your body‘s warnings.

[SlimyBritches]

I've been stabbed twice by my fins, Once in each foot. The first time the "Doc" sewed up sand and sea monkeys in the wound and I ended up with gangrene. I had a muscle and artery removed, which wasn't as bad as the skin graph the took off my waist below the belt line. They used a plane to get the slab of meat. Second time the bottom of my foot was gaffed by my fin and when I went to the doc he asked me what I wanted him to do about it. I said, refer mme to the guy that saved my foot last time. I asked that doc if he remembered me and he said, "Yeah, you're my first presentation on difficult wound treatment. I answered, "You can just call me Slimeybritches."

[jaffa1949]

Good thing you kept your head about keeping your foot, the whole reconstructive procedure sounds epic. Great you‘ve joined us and are still surfing!

[Naeco78]

I have a gnarly story that didnt happen to me, but had to share. This cleanup set rolled through the lineup during a hurricane and when we surfaced from the duckdive.. the guy next to me got thrown off his board underwater and he was treading water for several seconds and looking for where his board had disappeared to. Right around the time he had the, ah sh$t moment, his board came shooting up and out of the water and struck him right between his lip and nose. Bad scene.. but he was really lucky that it wasnt even worse. That was back in the 90s when most people had a noseguard on their board.

[Naeco78]

There was another time when a friend was on boogie board and trying to show off by "shooting the pier" while a bunch of teenage girls our age were watching from above. He had done it before, but this time he must've gotten nervous because he went directly into the first pilling that he tried to navigate and basically did an "endo" and went straight up and over the front of the board and flat into the large colony of barnacles that were covering the pier. It was like a kook of the day episode before those existed The girls didnt seem impressed and they left.

[SlimyBritches]

I got an hypothermia the first time I surfed in winter...
My mate and I got this great idea to go out in 4/3, no booties, no gloves and no hoods in a 10°C water.

We both ended up blue, couldn't move, and extremely dizzy. Luckily we have been clever enough to go out before we passed out. We managed to stay about 30-40 min. But pretty sure than 10min more would have ended up in a disaster.

It was a great lesson of humility though !

Except that no big injury for me. But the recurring injuries that don't look so good are shoulder dislocations. A few of my friends got that and it looks both scary and painful, definitely not what you are looking for in the water...

The first time I went out in the winter, I used my roommate's bell helmet dive suit. It had hot water ports and a big neck. It was better than nothing, but not by much.

[SlimyBritches]

Good thing you kept your head about keeping your foot, the whole reconstructive procedure sounds epic. Great you‘ve joined us and are still surfing!

Yeah, every chance I get. I made the mistake of starting a company in 05. It put a damper on my time spent out. I did kitchen repair, so I could go out between 11 and 2. which was great when there was school.