SMI – Surfing Medicine International - 'Keeping the Surfer Healthy and Safe' – Beter Health, Medicine & Safety for Surfers
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About us
Conference
    WCSM 2019
    Abstract
    Commercial Partners / Exhibitors
    Presskit
    Programmes
    Day 1 - Health & Injury Prevention
    Day 2 – Training & Performance
    Day 3 – The Ocean Environment
    Speakers
    Day 1 - Health & Injury Prevention
    Day 2 - Training & Performance
    Day 3 - The Ocean Environment
    WCSM 2018
    Gallery
Courses
    ASLS Course
    BSLS Course
    CSLS Course
Community
    Academy
Apps
    Surf First Aid
    Surf Years Calculator
Science
Partners
Get in touch
DONATE
  • About us
  • Conference
    • WCSM 2019
      • Abstract
      • Commercial Partners / Exhibitors
      • Presskit
      • Programmes
        • Day 1 – Health & Injury Prevention
        • Day 2 – Training & Performance
        • Day 3 – The Ocean Environment
      • Speakers
        • Day 1 – Health & Injury Prevention
        • Day 2 – Training & Performance
        • Day 3 – The Ocean Environment
    • WCSM 2018
      • Gallery
  • Courses
    • ASLS Course
    • BSLS Course
    • CSLS Course
  • Community
    • Academy
  • Apps
    • Surf First Aid
    • Surf Years Calculator
  • Science
  • Partners
  • Get in touch
  • DONATE
SMI – Surfing Medicine International - 'Keeping the Surfer Healthy and Safe' – Beter Health, Medicine & Safety for Surfers
Recent Posts

Surfing as Therapy: NHS

Surfing now being prescribed on the NHS!

– Brandon now feels more confident both in and out of the water –

Learning to catch your first wave could help conquer depression and low self-esteem, according to a project launched by the NHS in Dorset.

The £10,000 pilot scheme, funded by Dorset Healthcare University Foundation Trust, offers young people a series of surf lessons on prescription. The fledgling surfers arrive at the seashore facing a range of challenges – from coping with the death of loved ones to dealing with autism or anxiety disorders. Brandon is 14 and has been referred by social services to help him settle into a home in foster care and a new class at school. He has had five sessions so far, learning to become familiar with his board, and how to paddle, pop-up and ride the waves. Each young person has a volunteer mentor who provides one-to-one support both in and out of the water. Brendon says his experiences at sea have made him more confident. “Now I am more happy to make friends and I am not shy to let myself out there in the middle of the group instead of just standing back there in the shadows,” he says.

‘Strong link’

The surf therapy is run by the Wave Project and is open to people aged between eight and 21 who have been referred by mental health, school or social services or bereavement charities.

Joe Taylor, who runs the not-for-profit scheme, says: “What is great is it doesn’t feel like therapy for the young people but there are therapeutic principles behind it such as reducing anxiety, promoting confidence and well-being.

Check out the original article and news video here

 

 

Related Stories – Surf therapy for stressed veterans

Recent Posts

Surfing Medicine Journal: Online

Hereby we would like your attention for the online version of the Surfing Medicine Journal, an initiative of the Surfer’s Medical Association! The journal is an initiative of our friends of the Surfer’s Medical Association. There is a possibility to submit your articles to dr. Andrew Nathanson directly through the journal. The online edition is free and open to all. Enjoy the read and spread the word!

Articles of the EASD website written by our members have already been submitted to the journal.

Please check out the Surfing Medicine Journal here!

 

Recent Posts

Surfers set up Philippines Disaster Relief Fund

Hereby we want to ask your attention for the people living in the Phillippines by donating to the Manila Surfers Association. Below you find information about the Manila Surfers Association which are helping the people through this disaster. The EASD supports this initiative by donating 1000 euro’s, a part of the fundraising of our last conference. 

Guiuan (Geewon) is a fishing town on the southern tip of an Island called Samar, Eastern Philippines. It sits on the edge of the Pacific Rim, and is a long way from anywhere.

*The author, Barry Mottershead, knows the area intimately and is advocating direct donations to the Philippines via the Manila Surfers Association.

Early in the morning on the 8th of November Typhoon Haiyan struck Guiuan at peak intensity, with sustained winds of 200mph or 320km/h and with gusts of up to 236mph or 380km/h. News agencies report that the fishing community surrounded by the Pacific Ocean was “flattened” and was “turned into a wasteland”.

Record breaking wind speed toppled trees, electrical posts and even concrete structures, blocking roads and making relief operations slow and difficult, 95% of the town was damaged, and survivors were left hungry and homeless.

The local houses which were built from corrugated iron and timber were ripped from the ground and people were killed by the 15ft storm surge and also by flying debris. Haiyan continued her path westwards taking out towns along the southern shore of Samar and then smashing into Tacloban, the main town 300km west of Guiuan.

Tacloban is also flattened and thousands are dead, more homeless. Its a horrible scene of disbelief and confusion as many people are struggling to come to terms with what has happened.

There are still no communications or power but it is now safe to fly to the airport without having to worry about being mobbed by starving, desperate people. The neighbouring towns are also in the same state of destruction.Paulo Soler

I have been trying to get in contact with my friends out there for days, and made contact with one who was in Cebu, taking his dad to the hospital. He said things are worse than the news is reporting. Much worse, and I will not relay the stories. Most importantly aid is only getting to Tacloban, as it’s the regional centre, and first port of call to aid being flown in from Manila. The problem is that with current road conditions, Tacloban is sixteen hours away from Guiuan and only passable on motorbike.

Roads are in need of repair to get aid further east and onto the island of Samar and onwards to Guiuan. Phone lines, electricity and internet are down, and according to a local engineer won’t be back up for at least six months. Samar locals are completely cut off from the rest of the world, and were the worst hit by Haiyan.

Its a bad situation for the folks living in Guiuan and along the eastern coastline of Samar, they are alone, with no food, no houses and are in desperate need of aid.

I spoke to Paulo Soler, another friend based in Manila and he had this to say: “C 130 aeroplanes with soldiers finally arrived in Guiuan today. It was hit the hardest and completely demolished, 100%. There are still no communications or power but it is now safe to fly to the airport without having to worry about being mobbed by starving, desperate people. The neighbouring towns are also in the same state of destruction. I heard from Abdel that Hernani village smells of rot and decay”.

Paulo and the Manila Surfers Association have been quick to act and have worked with local company Balesin and the Eastern Samar Surf Club to get aid brought in by light aircraft to a landing strip just outside Guiuan,

“I have room for 9 doctors and 300 kgs on the plane for Guiuan” said Paulo, “we also have arranged to bring aid in by boat leaving in the next few days.” “We have a team of doctors and shelter experts from all over the world going with us.” He also added, “We heard that the damage is intense northwards from Guiuan to Hernani and west from Guiuan to Tacloban. Tacloban is now in anarchy despite having soldiers there. People are raiding homes of neighbouring towns as well as hijacking relief good trucks because they are so hungry, these are not bad people, they are just desperate for food, water and shelter.”

A visibly shaken mayor of Davao upon visiting Tacloban had this to say “I think that God was somewhere else when this typhoon hit, He did not remember us here on Earth”

“We will fly in today, we’ve arranged for ground transport and minimal security for us to travel around the island from the landing field. We will give medical attention, food and water to as many people as possible”, said Paulo “My other job is to try make an accurate count of the deceased.”

“I will monitor as best as I can that the money you guys send is spent in the most effective way possible. It’s money for medicine, food, water and shelter now that is most important. I saw a report of one poor man who said he was ashamed to be eating food he had taken from a ruined shop, that he was a good man, an honest man, but he had nothing left in the world. Everything was gone.”Paulo Soler

“I will monitor as best as I can that the money you guys send is spent in the most effective way possible. It’s money for medicine, food, water and shelter now that is most important”. Said Paulo. “I saw a report of one poor man who said he was ashamed to be eating food he had taken from a ruined shop, that he was a good man, an honest man, but he had nothing left in the world. Everything was gone.”

Guiuan is Ground Zero and little help has arrived. The dead are being buried in mass graves just outside town, and disease is starting to claim the wounded. International aid organisations are starting to bring in relief funds, but inevitably funds will be pocketed by corrupt officials. It is an all too familiar scene in these kinds of destruction zones. Anything that makes it past the back pocket will most likely not make it to Guiuan and other towns affected in the region as they are so far down the line that it will be spent long before it gets to them.

I would like to ask the surfers of the world to rally together and to please help my friends out there. I know times are tough at the moment but any size donation would go a long way to helping the people of Samar. These guys are respected in the local community, and are willing to do whatever it takes to help people on the ground, they just need funds to make it happen. They know the lie of the land, and know how to get to rural villages to provide relief aid. This network of mates is strong, and they are committed to rebuilding their villages and restoring peace and tranquility on this beautiful island.

Any monetary donations can be sent to this bank account overseen by the Manila Surfers Association / MSA

For International Bank to Bank Money Transfers
Account Name: Manila Surfer’s Association
Account Number: 3031119598
Name of Bank: Chinabank Makati Main Branch

Swift Code: CHBKPHMM

If you so wish you can scan your donation transaction and mail it to MSA, they will then keep full records of where the cash has been spent. “We will be fully transparent with our aid efforts, people should not worry about their money being used wrongly”.

manilasurfersassociation@gmail.com is the email, anyone wanting to donate goods or extend a hand in any way please get hold of them on this address. Transaction receipts should be scanned and sent to this address too.

Our Connection to the Philippines

My brother and I took boats and buses up there from Cloud 9 back in 2000. We knew there had to be uncrowded waves in the area, so we just went for it. After two days of rough travel we arrived to the beach in the dark, and slept on the sand in our boardbags. We awoke to paradise and ended up staying for two months.

One day we were spotted walking through town with boards and were introduced to the local surf crew. There were only about 10 surfers living on Samar, the 4th largest island in Philippines, and they were more than happy to show us around their coastline full of gems.

We met their families and they took us in and fed us, even gave us their beds to sleep in. The most hospitable folk I’ve ever met. I made it my mission to go back every year for extended stints through the typhoon season, and have nearly spent a year of my life in this area now, exploring the coast further and further with the local boys. Our trips were always full on adventures, taking dugout boats over the horizon to distant islands, surfing reef passes no one had ever seen before and visiting islands that had not seen westerners since World War Two.

One of the local surfers, Abdel Alecho, and two of his friends started up the Eastern Samar Surf Club, and they helped others to get involved in the sport, they built up the image of surfing through hard work, teaching less fortunate children how to surf and involved the mayor of Guiuan in local competitions and surf days. It was a privilege to see these guys develop surfing on their island.

Recent Posts

Surfing equipment materials from an Occupational medicine point of view

Dr. Ognjen Markovic Ophthalmologist and Specialist in Occupational Medicine will discuss with you the Health Hazards of Surf Materials.

The European Association of Surfing Doctors is providing scientific facts for the surfing community; these facts are focused on health and health risks of the sport and environment we love. Let me take you to another scientific journey taking a zoom at surfboard materials, uniting Occupational Medicine, Chemistry, Surf Board craftsmanship and Material science.

Building a surfboard is an art, in the beginning of the surfing sport reserved only for a few. Those of the surfing community remembering the days of wooden boards without leash attached, were living witnesses of the tremendous evolution of the surf industry and we salute them! With the development of new materials and the exponential growth of the surfing population, surfing has become an industry based on chemical-, textile- and plastic industry. The development of surfing materials brought entirely new possibilities for the sport and went from incredible to awesome, producing drop in´ s, turns and aerials never done before. But this development has brought to us also a huge number of new injuries and health risks.

In most minds the long past days are forgotten where a surfer would surf on organic materials. Since the 30´s by Otto Bayer and especially since 1953 following the discovering of polimerization of Polycarbonates by Herman Schnell, everything has gradually changed.

Bildschirmfoto 2013-11-08 um 20.23.40

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what is the state today? For todays surfing we are using a board, leash, fins, wax and sometimes wetsuits. All of these gadgets we use every day, but what is hidden behind the different names of materials and brands? The wetsuit topic we have written about in our prior article. http://www.surfingdoctorseurope.com/2012/12/22/the-wonder-of-wetsuits/

Surf Board Materials

The material which a surfboard is made of is generally based on the discoveries of thermoplasts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoplastic

Bildschirmfoto 2013-11-08 um 20.24.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://surf.transworld.net/1000099024/gear-guide-articles/gear-school/

Products like resins or foams are included in this group making the most part of board materials, but also fins are made out of plastic evolving form polymer technology. A polymer is an assembly of small organic molecules called monomers. “Poly” means multiple, and “mono” means singular. So Polymersmeans many monomers. There are many possibilities to use polymers and create all sorts of different material and properties.

Polyurethane and Polyurethane Foam

Polyurethane can be polymerized into many different forms. The surfboard producing industry is interested and using polyurethane foam being light, strong, low cost and tolerant to polyester resin. Surfboard foams range in densities some foam at higher and lower densities depending on the application. Relevant polyurethane foams for the surfing industry we can divide in two types called:

  1. Toluene diisocyanate, TDI

  2. Diphenylmethane diisocyanate, MDI

Almost all surfboard producers use or used TDI foams compared to the rest of the commercial industry who prefers MDI foams. Recent studies are showing medical an environmental impact of TDI foams. Generally speaking dissocyanates are not the health friendlies compounds, containing cyanate being a chemical bond well known to bear health risks.

Although the health risks of TDI are starting to become obvious the advantages compared to MDI are better flexibility, durability, shaping properties as well as perfect alignment with used resins for the finish and so TDI is still very attractive for the surfboard industry.

Other foams are also used to make surfboards like EPS and polyethylene (PE). EPS is commonly used with epoxy resins due to the fact that polyester resins dissolve polystyrene and PE foam is a material used for soft board products like boogie boards and soft surfboards.

Health Hazards of surfboard foams

Starting with the dissocyanates: which share a fundamental health issue causing asthma (1,2), under the olfactory (smelling) threshold. But also connections to carcinogenicity (cancer inducing) of TDI is discussed and evaluated (3) as well as the modification of immune system produced by these substances. (4)

There are also more simple, but very important examples showing the inaptitude of used materials. The experience of the longest serving surf teacher in Europe and Scout of the EASD, Tim Jones show us that one of the most common surf injuries in surfing beginners is skin abrasion by soft board covers.

Bildschirmfoto 2013-11-08 um 20.24.12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Producing unnecessary pain and injuries especially unpleasant in a water sports. The EASD is working on the answers for these problems! New and more appropriate materials and improvements of used materials are being assessed hoping to inspire the surfing industry to produce even better and healthier products.

Bildschirmfoto 2013-11-08 um 20.24.21

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

1.) Mechanism of E-cadherin redistribution in bronchial airway epithelial cells in a TDI-induced

asthma model. Song J, Zhao H, Dong H, Zhang D, Zou M, Tang H, Liu L, Liang Z, Lv Y, Zou F, Cai S.

Toxicol Lett. 2013 Jun 20;220(1):8-14. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2013.03.033. Epub 2013 Apr 6.

PMID: 23566898 [PubMed – in process]

2,) Asthma Symptoms and Specific IgE Levels among  Toluene Diisocyanate (TDI) Exposed

Workers in Tehran, Iran.

Sharifi L, Karimi A, Shokouhi Shoormasti R, Miri S, Heydar Nazhad H, Bokaie S, Fazlollahi

MR, Sadeghniiat Haghighi K, Pourpak Z, Moin M.

Iran J Public Health. 2013 Apr 1;42(4):397-401. Print 2013.

3.) Hypothesis-based weight-of-evidence evaluation of the human carcinogenicity of  toluene

diisocyanate.

Prueitt RL, Rhomberg LR, Goodman JE.

Crit Rev Toxicol. 2013 May;43(5):391-435. doi: 10.3109/10408444.2013.790877. Epub 2013

May 15.

PMID: 23675773 [PubMed – in process]

4.) Combination of Leukotoriene Receptor Antagonist With Antihistamine Has an Additive

Suppressive Effect on the Up-regulation of H1-Receptor mRNA in the Nasal Mucosa of

Toluene 2,4-Diisocyanate-Sensitized Rat.

Kuroda W, Kitamura Y, Mizuguchi H, Miyamoto Y, Kalubi B, Fukui H, Takeda N.

J Pharmacol Sci. 2013 May 18;122(1):55-8. Epub 2013 Apr 25.

PMID: 23615224 [PubMed – in process]

 

 

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