Injuries in Youngers Competitive Surfers - Study in a Portugal Championship

Introduction: Surfers are subjected to external factors (ocean currents, wind orientation, wave size, contact with the board and other surfers) that require adaptations, increasing the risk of injury during their practice. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of injuries in young competitive surfers and to analyses the associated factors.

Methods: The sample involved 67 surfers who competed in ASCC Super Groms championship, aged between 6 and 14 years (10.64 ±2.27 years), 56 (83.6%) were boys. A questionnaire was administered during the days of competition by interview.

Results: Sixteen (23.9%) surfer athletes reported having suffered an injury since they began their practice, 14 (20.9%) surfers had an injury in the 12-months period, with a total of 15 injuries, and 9 (13.4%) surfers reported had an injury in the 6-months period, with a total of 10 injuries. The average number of injuries per surfer was 0.15 and the average of injuries per injured surfer was 1.25. The most common injuries were fracture (40%) and lacerations (30%), located in cranium and face (30%) and foot and fingers (30%). Impacts of the board (30%) was the most prevalent injury mechanisms.

Conclusions: Data showed that children and adolescents surfers, analyzed in this championship, presented moderate prevalence of injuries. It´s necessary to create more studies in the young population of surfers to better understand the injuries in order to draw up injury prevention strategies during training out of the water.

Keywords: adolescent, children, epidemiology, injury, prevalence, surf.