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You might think that the biggest danger surfing poses to your foot health would be slipping off your board and spraining or breaking your foot, but pro-surfer Kelly Slater just illustrated an entirely new danger: having your board hit your feet!
While sharing an image of his badly-broken third and fourth metatarsal (toe) bones on Instagram, he explained the cause of his injury:
“I pulled into a barrel this morning and the whitewash bounced the board back into my foot as I hit the close-out, taking all the pressure into the metatarsals. Kinda like smashing my foot with a big hammer as hard as I can. Sorta feels like I’m giving birth out of my foot right now!”
Initially, Slater believed he’d be out for a six-week recovery, but now the surfer has revealed that he will require surgery followed by a 4-6 month rehab.
As with any sports injury, this rehabilitation period is crucial to the ultimate success of the athlete in the future—rushing a comeback leaves athletes vulnerable to re-injury and subject to sub-par performance.
If you’ve suffered a sports injury and need help managing your athletic comeback, please schedule a consultation with Houston sports doctor Andrew Schneider. At Tanglewood Foot Specialists, we promise to return you to your sport as soon as it’s safely possible, and we also help you find training alternatives to keep you healthy and active while you rehab your injury.
