The Beat Down Swell!

I think it is a matter of fatigue... 10 days of surf and I am gasping just to get out, my body is not reacting as fast as I think it should and the fatigued body doesn't get out of the way of the lip like it does in normal Florida surf. I am sore all over but did not get injured. My neice hit her face on her board and luckily stayed concious but her jaw is all swolled up. A nephew also hit his head on his board and he went to Went to Wal-mart and got some Glue and cleaned it out and glued his wound shut? Both of them are very athletic, very good surfers, just didn't get their arms up fast enough to keep the board from hitting them...

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The only time I ever hurt myself surfing is when I am tired.

Sometimes its just bad luck. I use the vinyl edge pro tech fins, I drink a coconut water before I paddle out and I have been doing it for years. There's just a lot of things that can go wrong and because they don't, for the most part, I felt like they wouldn't. We are all so lucky that we know what it is to surf. We would have known pain and injury anywhere but if pain and injury are the result of surfing, they are just more proof of love for the sport. I get so much more than I give up but right now I am in a lot of pain. This too shall pass. Every guy and girl on here will have a story like this sooner or later and after seeing a hamstring completely unattached, I feel lucky.

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"One of the reasons why propaganda tries to get you to hate government is because it's the one existing institution in which people can participate to some extent and constrain tyrannical unaccountable power." Noam Chomsky.

On Saturday I surfed some big surf in Melbourn Beach. I took off on a left and my buddy took off inside of me but I was committed on a set wave and could not back out. He never saw me. He bailed but I couldn't straighten out so I went by him. His longboard got pulled by the whitewater and popped out and hit me in the back shoulders as I went by. I turned and saw the board and it hurt like hell. I'm just getting over a concussion from hitting my head on a reef so I just imagine what it would have done had it hit me in the head. Knocked me out or at the very least given me that damn concussion head ache again.

It can happen so easily. I was lucky that time.

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Replace turf grass with native plants that don't need irrigation and synthetic fertilizers or chemicals that can go into our waterways and ocean

Put me down on the list on walking wounded, .  just left the Back Center and diag was extreme prolapsed lumbar intervertebral disc L4 and extreme degeneration of lumbar intervertebral disc L4 and L5....time to go under the knife.  An issue I have been dealing w/ for years resurfaced to the point of looking at long term options.  Was it worth it Yes!!!! because I live in FL, but No if we had swells like this more often,  The surf did not cause the initial injury but it did make it much worse to the point that no amount of Yoga, stretching , inversion tables, etc. will help.

 

Anyone know good neurosurgeons in the area?  I heard great things about Dr. Fields at Florida Hospital who fixed a friends back, my other choice would be Dr Datta, I hear he is good but after a not so great resullt of past surgeries this time I doing more research to pick a Dr. who is the best, you really only get one chance to do the work, seeking the best neurosurgeon within couple hundred mile radius.

 

Good luck to Jonny, Karma, Bananas and others who are now going in for repairs.

Edited: 10/08/2015 at 12:09 PM by SurferMic

Dr. Masson here

 

Hands down one of the best in the country.

 

Here are his qualifications

 

He did my artificial C5-C6 and I was back in the water surfing (small day on longboard) in two weeks.

Karma-sorry bout your luck amigo, get better soon. On Sunday - when I got to the beach...I blew out my flip flop, Stepped on a pop top, Cut my heel, and after i surfed anyway (it was not real bad), I had to cruise on back home. BUTT - me getting stuck in the impact zone a few times is another story for another day.

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Water dissolving...and water removing
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Thanks, yeah, the Dr. gave me the choice. Told me the pros and cons of each choice. It's a hard call, but I'm leaning toward the knife in hopes of returning to pre-injury power, mobility, and overall capability. What would Mick do?

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If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

for SurferMic , I work with the orlando guys and both Field and Masson are very good . Other you might like are Dr Razack and Dr Sawin ( Sawin is Fields partner). I've worked here for 20 years in surgery for what it's worth. Good luck

Duck diving a set wave that broke right in front of me. My board was sucked from me and pulled the elbow out of the socket.... totally freaky....

 

I had a L5/S1 prolapse that caused intense sciatica and foot drop. I went under the knife in Gainesville with Dr. Murad. The recover was rough, 8 months of light to no activity. But it was the best medical decision I've ever made. I felt like he gave me my life back. 

Crazy to hear about all these injuries from this past swell, but it doesnt suprise me. I got pitched over the falls on a solid double up and landed on my board, cracked the rail of my Hayden Shape, lost my wind, then wore the rest of the set on my head. Started getting the chest heaves after trying to duckdive the 3rd/4th wave in the impact zone. 

^^This is terrifying 

I'm not feeling so bad now, after reading about all these injuries. I cut the bottom of my foot/heel on the fin when the bottom dropped out of a wave I had just stood up on. I tried to pitch myself back over the lip when I saw my board at the bottom and I was still at the top. Almost kept away from it, almost. I missed the majority of the swell , but I keep telling myself that it could've been worse; coulda been my head split open. It was weird too because I have been smacked by the board a couple other times and popped to the surface thinking I was just sliced open, and nothing. This time it didn't really even hurt, but I was sliced and ended up getting stitches. Hope everyone heals up fast.

spinal



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"If you'll have but a little Patience, you may see them make very noble Efforts towards striking off the Heads of the tall Poppies". This message is approved by CRETIN

Edited: 10/08/2015 at 12:30 PM by CRETIN

 

As expensive as it was up front, I saw five (5) surgeons for L-4 & L-5 (Lumbar Disc) Ruptures that were clearly impinging the nerve. I also had damage to the S1. Sciatica made it impossible for me to stand or walk withhout excrutating pain radiating to my left toes from my hips.  I wanted a larger pool to determine a consensus for treatment. Two of them were adamant that I would lose the use of my left leg if I didn't have surgery. One (1) was reluctant to make a diagnoise that was so absolute. One(1) told me that in my case the only difference between surgery and no surgery was the recovery time. Surgery would be quicker, non surgery would mean a comitment on my part. One(1) clearly showed me that surgery would probably relieve the symptoms but would not cure the underlying problem. And, that most Lumbar issues (not all) fall in this catagory.

Though in my case there was also damage to the S1 where most of the pain was coming from. At that time it wasn't and is currently not surgically repairable to my knowledge.  

So, I listened to the last one, Dr S, Gill, M.D.. I followed his advice and found a PT solution. While it took over a year to recover I learned a whole pardigm for healing.  

After reading Dr Mason's qualifications and his wholistic healing pardigm he appears to be on a similar page to the Surgeon that I trusted my recovery with.

Here is a link to the surgeon I trusted. Dr S.Gill, MD.. Read his research to get a better idea of what your options are.

Though Dr Gill didn't directly Script this, His primary PTist did after working with me for a month. This is a link to one aspect of the PT that I did. IMT, or Integrated Manual therapy

Everyones medical situation is different. There is a time for surgery, but make sure that you need it to recover.

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Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.

Edited: 10/08/2015 at 04:23 PM by dab

Was watching the morning show for Quiksilver Pro France and Ross was saying that Slater almost died from hitting his board after a big air freesurfing a beach break south of Hossegor. He apparently felt like he even lost conciousness underwater. You never know what can happen out there - even on smaller days.