Skip to main content

Surfing-banner-350h.png

(Professional surfer Caroline Marks. CREDIT: INTERNATIONAL SURFING ASSOCIATION)

Surfing is perhaps the largest water sport worldwide. Revenues top $22 billion, and active surfers are estimated to number over 30 million, according to the website Surfer Today.

Surfing equipment and technique have come a long way from the sport portrayed in 1960s "beach party" movies. There are longboards, shortboards, bodyboarding, big wave surfing, stand-up paddling, foil boarding, and even e-foiling (modified surfboards mounted on hydrofoils).

With that many surfers in a dangerous and evolving sport, injuries are common. Laird Hamilton, a legendary big-wave surfer, told APTA's Move Forward Radio podcast, "I've been hurt more times than I can count. At one point, I'd had a thousand stitches and not had an operation. Our sport involves a lot of wounds. I've had an array of injuries — punctures, broken shoulders, broken ribs, scrapes. You name it and I've had some version of it."

Log in or create a free account to keep reading.


Join APTA to get unlimited access to content.


You Might Also Like...

News

Now Available: APTA Practice Advisory on Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy

Aug 18, 2025

Extracorporeal shockwave therapy, or ESWT, is emerging as a noninvasive treatment option in physical therapy. ESWT utilizes sound waves to relieve pain

Article

Takeaways From the Proposed 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, Part 2

Aug 15, 2025

Fact Sheet: Quality Payment Program Proposals The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has released the proposed 2026 Medicare Part B Physician

Article

Matthews Urges Resilience and Reframing During 2025 Woodruff Lecture

Aug 12, 2025

Didi Matthews, PT, DPT, delivered the sixth annual Lynda D. Woodruff Lecture in June. Her speech, titled "Reframing DEI: Clarity, Courage, and Commitment