Surf Injuries

[WaveJunkie]

Mush today, and I'm on the beach, watching the mush and just hanging out, not in the water.

Right on the beach some guy takes a nose dive into the sand. He's wobbled, hurts, has a raw patch on is forehead from where the skin got "sanded off."

Because I'm an EMR for the fire dept. here, (Emergency Medical Responder) I check out his reflexes, orientation. He's light-headed, but OK. But I see guys in the movies -- "Step Into Liquid" and "Riding Giants" -- where they've been paralyzed from dumps, broken bones, unconscious, and of course drowning.

Just speculating here -- Let's open a thread on this and discuss. Eh?

[ghost_who_surfs]

Yep no doubt about it, when your luck runs out you can injure yourself quite badly.

Last may I snapped my patella tendon whilst surfing the spot in the photos section. Was only about head high and jamming a hard bottom turn and the tendon went pop. pretty painful and I didn't get back into the water till Feb this year

[drowningbitbybit]

Busted a rib last year

Stupidly embarassingly, I was demonstrating that its possible to surf a short board on a foot of wave

I put my foot so far foward to try and keep on the ripple, that I got to the unwaxed bit and fell flat on my board...

[sinistapenguin]

I've bruised my ego far more often than I would like to admit!!

[WaveJunkie]

Speakin' of which --

I hear stories about "seeing sharks in the water" and "bumping into sharks."

Not a huge fan of getting eaten by a dumb fish. Northern Oregon coast here. They tell me Whites are out there. But no attacks in about 30 yrs.

So that suggests to me that either they're out there and not a worry . . . or else it's time for dinner again.

[Broosta]

Because I'm an EMR for the fire dept. here, (Emergency Medical Responder) I check out his reflexes, orientation. He's light-headed, but OK. But I see guys in the movies -- "Step Into Liquid" and "Riding Giants" -- where they've been paralyzed from dumps, broken bones, unconscious, and of course drowning.

Hmmm... maybe should have collared and boarded him if the mechanism of injury was that which may suggest cx-spine injury .
If whilst at work (EMP)I came accross someone who may have head trauma through forhead hitting sand then I would have to assume cervical spine injury possibility and cater for the worst case scenario. Might still be worth this guy having neck x-rayed as it is perfectly possible to walk about with a fractured vertabrae without knowing about it.

[WaveJunkie]

Because I'm an EMR for the fire dept. here, (Emergency Medical Responder) I check out his reflexes, orientation. He's light-headed, but OK. But I see guys in the movies -- "Step Into Liquid" and "Riding Giants" -- where they've been paralyzed from dumps, broken bones, unconscious, and of course drowning.

Hmmm... maybe should have collared and boarded him if the mechanism of injury was that which may suggest cx-spine injury .
If whilst at work (EMP)I came accross someone who may have head trauma through forhead hitting sand then I would have to assume cervical spine injury possibility and cater for the worst case scenario. Might still be worth this guy having neck x-rayed as it is perfectly possible to walk about with a fractured vertabrae without knowing about it.

Yeah, but he was alert, oriented, reflexes worked, no numbness in toes/fingers. I did a finger pressure exam along the neck, and nothing. Full range of motion in the neck, not stiff.

Small wave, like 2', and a small dump on wet sand by an 18 yr old male in good shape. Abrasion was "spots" and not into the dermis. No bruising.

I told him if he was getting headaches, vision issues, or numbness to get to a doc.

Besides, I'm an off-duty by-stander, no medical kit. But we could have taken improvised field measures had there been symptoms.

Medic in the Army. We had a guy walk into the Fire Dept. in Alaska where I was on ambulance duty -- holding his head with his hands to immobilize. He'd heard it crack. It was broken -- he had major symptoms. Back in the 60's and in the bush we had no board, no C-Collar. Taped him to a door and put him on a Cessna for Anchorage.

[k mac]

dude i was surfing with strong offshore day ....cameoff a wave boardlaunched in the air and came back on his head crunch ...concussion and a crushed nose on his board

ive had whiplash split lip and many bruises

[Broosta]

Full range of motion in the neck, not stiff.

That's my favourite bit !

But seriously, fair enough if the impact wasn't too bad - no worries .

A couple of years ago in summer I was walking along the beach where I live (no waves that day ) and it was hot so I decided to go in for a swim. I stripped off then ran into the water and dove in at a shallow angle. Well it so happened the angle was not quite shallow enough as I hit the floor with my head on the sand hard enough to graze my forehead and draw blood. I knew I'd hit hard and heard/felt a cruch in my neck . I stood up in the thigh deep water and felt a bit dazed, rotated my head about (duh!) and swam about for a few mins then went home hoping nobody saw me twat my head . After I got home I was due to goto work in a couple of hours, but felt 'wrong' so I called my GP who said to go to nearby hospital to get it checked out just to be safe. Soon as I was seen by doc in A&E it was, "don't move, keep looking straight ahead at me, don't move your head at all while I put this collar on and tape you to the stretcher and send you in for X-rays!"
After that I was still lying taped to the strecher waiting for the doc to tell me all ok and that I can go home now. I waited ages. Eventually the doc came over and I asked what the delay was. He said they couldn't decide if I'd broken my neck (C2) or not and had to wait until the consultant checked it out as well .
I had not bust my neck and the reason they had trouble knowing was due to the angle of the X-ray meaning it was just hard to see properly. I still shat myself and was in cold sweat for a minute or so. End result 1 week off work with a soft collar due to soft tissue damage - and a sort of post traumatic stress issue with me re-living the crunch of the impact and feeling sick each time .
Anyway the moral of the story is surfing may have saved my life (as I know it) cos if my neck had not been so strong due to surfing it may have broken ...and don't dive into water that is not deep enough to dive into .

[ghost_who_surfs]

Scary story there Broosta I know I've come close a couple of times doing the same thing.

We had a guy here even try and sue a local council for his own stupidity. Claimed they didn't put up enough signs warning of the dangers of diving into shallow water. What a dick. Thankfully he lost the case.

[tomcat360]

my mom used to work in a home for disabled adults, there was this one guy she was pretty close to that fell off his board and hit the bottom, broke his neck, and was paralyzed for the rest of his life from the head down. scary stuff..he died last year after complications

just remember its better to get beaten up by the wave and dragged towards shore 20 yards than get beaten into the rocks....

[dondiemand]

hit the board with my chin a week ago, 3 cuts on the inner lip, one outside, i was spitting blood while getting out of the water, no fun at all, felt like i was in a street fight or something, i didnt realize i can injure myself, i thought i only have to worry about sharks, oh well

[njerseysurf]

best friend broke his nose when his board popped outta the water after a bail. i laughed so hard until i realized it was serious haha

[deathfrog]

I almost cut my eye out when I was like five, my board hit me in the forehead and cut my eyebrow and I got fibve stiches... before a birthday party, my mom freaked out when I showed up with a big bandage thing over my eye.

[WaveJunkie]

best friend broke his nose when his board popped outta the water after a bail. i laughed so hard until i realized it was serious haha

Local board shop here, this 13 yr old boy is wearing a T-shirt:

"It's only funny until someone gets hurt.
Then it's hilarious!"

Not huge surf here -- easy breaking stuff, no curls/tubes and 6' -- 8' nominal, sandy bottom. Hoardes of surfers out there every day and most don't get hurt, or bitten by sharks.

[DanJS14]

I almost cut my eye out when I was like five, my board hit me in the forehead and cut my eyebrow and I got fibve stiches... before a birthday party, my mom freaked out when I showed up with a big bandage thing over my eye.

you were surfing when you were five years old?

[Phil]

i almost castrated my self once i was learning to surf at croyde it wasnt very big but as i poped up i mandged to flip the board over and come down with the fin going right between my legs, i laid on the beech for about 30 mins hands on my crown jewls in aggony

other than that ive had the fin hit me in the back of my knee screwing up my cartalege for a week and not being able to walk properly

[sinistapenguin]

First time out on my new board I was just jumping the small whitewater, when somehow my fins went across my ankle.

They cut right through my wetsuit book and into the skin. Not a big cut, but the boot was 3mm thick - dread to think what would have happened if I'd been barefoot!!

[deathfrog]

well... almost...

my dad pushed me into a wave on his 5'10 at old mans (I think)... I wouldn't use his longboard because I couldn't turn it, and didn't want him pushing me because, you know, I was five. I can do stuff on my own now, I mean come on, I'm like five....

so he ended up like pushin me too hard and I somehow rolled off or something and my board just kinda kept going and went over my face...

I came up and started crying because I had lost one of my water shoes I was wearing, and my dad was freaking out because he saw all the blood comming down my face.

[rctkj]

Last year around Thanksgiving the waves were going off along with the off-shore wind for weeks. I was knocked hard in the head by my own board after a face plant and didn't know where I was so I grabbed my board and held on for life as I was washed ashore.
I sat on the beach for about a half an hour before I could gain my senses. I was dizzy and had a difficult time remembering things for a week. It took two months before I was able to surf big waves again.