Females account for only 5%-22% of surfers in the United States (21).

The mean age of professional surfers is 27.5 and 26.7 years old for men and women, respectively (10).

Elite male and female surfers tend to be shorter and lighter when compared to age-matched swimmefor sanctioning surfing contests and tours throughout the world.

Surfing competitions involve 20- to 40-minute elimination heats in which surfers are scored by a group of judges with high scorers advancing on to further rounds. Athletes are judged on degree of difficulty, control, power, speed, style, and originality. Points for individual surfing contests are accumulated throughout the year to determine the overall tour rankings.

Surfing is an intermittent sport that is characterized by periods of high-intensity exercise interspersed with low-intensity activity and rest periods (5).

Surfing first involves paddling away from shore. While paddling out, a maneuver called “duck diving” is used to dive nose first under oncoming waves in order to continue away from shore. When a suitable wave is identified, surfers attempt to match the speed of the oncoming wave in order to ride along the wave front. Once the surfer is pulled toward shore by the wave, they explosively transition from a prone to a standing position and ride down the face of the wave. In big-wave surfing, surfers may be towed to the wave front by a motorized watercraft in order to match a larger wave’s higher velocity.

Paddling is performed with the surfer lying in the prone position with the back and neck in hyperextension and with the arms alternating, pulling through the water alongside the board. Paddling biomechanics differ from freestyle swimming because long axis rotation is diminished while lying prone on the board and kicking is eliminated as a means of forward propulsion.

During competition, surfers spend 51% and 42% of the timindow.status=this.title; return true;” onmouseout=”window.status=”; return true;”>11).

Surfboard-related injuries are the most common cause of injury in recreational surfers, accounting for 67% of acute surfing injuries with 82% of these injuries occurring when the rider is struck by their own board (13).

Acute injuries occur at a rate of 2.2-3.5 injuries per 1,000 surfing days (7,18).

For recreational surfers, lacerations are the most common form of acute injury, accounting for 41%-46% of injuries (7,13,18). The most common locations are the face and lower extremity.