A shoulder grates, the knee grinds,
your back tightens and your neck
tweaks ...
Whatever, because if it’s pumping you’re out there
anyway, right? And what about keeping up with all
those front side grabs … all right on the way up
but it can be crunch time when you hit the flats.
Surfers can be stubborn creatures, and the longer
in the tooth you get the worse all those niggling
injuries hurt. But who in the world gives a stuff
about your pain? Well no-one really ... up until
now.
“Being a part of this
study was a huge
step for me in edging
toward my surfing
goals” - Freya Prumm
Bond University researcher James Furness is
conducting Australia’s largest study of surfers
for his PhD into acute and chronic injuries in
competitive and recreational surfing. So far his
team has surveyed more than 1300 surfers from
around Australia, ranging from the local noob
grommets, just one year in, to tour professionals
like Bede Durbidge, Adam Melling, Mitch Crews
and Dion Atkinson.
James is now after more surfers for the next
stage of the study, which he hopes will eventually
help develop groundbreaking injury prevention
strategies, and improve a surfer’s methods in
the water. So far he’s found that while the risk of
acute injury is higher among surfers who push
their bodies to the limit, the survey results to
date have revealed that recreational surfers have
significantly higher rates of chronic injuries than
competitive surfers. This may explain the role
of being physically conditioned for the sport,
as many competitive surfers are involved in
additional physical conditioning exercises.
“Despite there being over 2.5 million recreational
surfers within Australia, and 37 million worldwide,
there has been very little research done into
surfing injuries,” says James, a consultant
physiotherapist for Surfing Australia and a clinical
skills tutor at Bond University.