June 15, 2018 0 Comments

Surfing and Lung Trauma: Pneumothorax

Paige Hareb a pro-surfer from New Zealand has been forced to withdraw from upcoming competition after crashing into rocks during a free surf in Mexico.

Paige had this to say via IG: "I did a turn and jumped off right before a rock and was sweet but came up right in front of it with my board touching it and me about a metre away. I couldn't get my board in time before the next wave so tried to swim sideways to the side of the rock but the next wave came super quick and slammed me sideways sooo hard straight into it. I heard my ribs crack underwater!!! Broke ribs number 9 & 10." 

INJURY!...did a turn and jumped off right before a rock and was sweet but came up right in front of it with my board touching it and me about a metre away. I couldn’t get my board in time before the next wave so tried to swim sideways to the side of the rock but the next wave came super quick and slammed me sideways sooo hard straight into it. I heard my ribs crack underwater!!! 😳 Broke ribs number 9 & 10. Could hardly breathe, somehow floated to shore and a local Mexican surfer finally helped drag me in after he thought I was waving at him and waved back at me twice LOL I have an abrasion on my right lung and some liquid inside from it. They were worried I had punctured my liver or lung which I nearly did, so lucky! 😅 #kookoftheday UNFORTUNATELY I have to pull out of the qs event here in Mexico and the @wsl Jbay event for now. Absolutely gutted! Heartbroken (and rib broken 🤭) A BIG THANKYOU to the guy that dragged me in, @kurtyjay @elliejbrooksss @harrywrighty_ @isabella_nichols @dmacsurfboards and whoever else I missed that helped me in my delirious state, THANKYOU! ❤️ Hoping to be able to fly home soon to recover quickly! 🤞🏽💪🏽

A post shared by Paige Hareb (@paigehareb) on Jun 14, 2018 at 9:38am PDT

 

The big take away from this for surfers is that even the pros get injured, and it is possible to get a pneumothorax from surf trauma injuries.

A pneumothorax occurs when air leaks into the space between your lung and chest wall. This air pushes on the outside of your lung and makes it collapse

Read more about Pneumothorax here. 

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