Windsurfing Injuries

Daida Moreno explores the most common windsurfing injuries and whether they are preventable

Multiple-time PWA Wave World Champion - Daida Moreno (Starboard / Severne / Maui Ultra Fins) recently completed her studies to become a physiotherapist and during her studies she conducted a study into windsurfing injuries as there was very little in the way of previous studies. We recently caught up with Daida to find out more about her study. You can read her findings in the interview below:

PWA: Hi Daida, firstly how was your winter and as you were in the final stages of completing your degree have you been able to get much water time yourself?

DM: “My winter went well. We had really good windsurfing conditions and I could maintain my training and my studies at the same time, even though it’s really sacrificed as I could’t miss my physiotherapy practice periods and to prioritise over windsurfing. Last year I went through a 5 months period off the water due a foot fixation injury, but this time I was in shape and had good training periods. It’s never as much as I wished but I optimised my time better in the water.” 

PWA: You were conducting a study on the most common injuries among windsurfers who perform the PWA World Tour… what made you want to investigate this to begin with?

DM: “Last year I had to choose a topic for my final research and present the idea in the office. I was about to choose Stand Up Paddle, as I did a bit of research through scientific web pages and there was barely anyhting about windsurfing and a lot about SUP. I told my teachers I just wanted to go thru this without complications, but they finally encourage me to try to make my research about windsurfing. For them it was logical, for me it was a nightmare… and yes, it became a really big nightmare during 10 months. I am a professional windsurfer, and I had the curiosity to know more about my sport from the physiotherapy part of it. I learn more than I could even imagined at the beginning. It’s really amazing there is such a big gap between the sport and science, that I never saw in any other sport.”

PWA: What were you hoping to achieve at the end of it?

DM: “At the moment I have scientific evidence in several aspects of my research. As an abstract, first of all there is enough scientific evidence to confirm that women on tour get more injuries than men (up to 88%). There is also enough evidence to confirm that the middle weight of 80 kg gets less injuries than lighter windsurfers (of approx. 72 Kg). There is also enough evidence to confirm that middle age of 33 years old get less injured than a windsurfer of 28 years old. And finally there is significant difference to say that women in competition get more injured on trunk compared with any other part of the body.

Windsurfer get, tough, more injured in lower limbs with 53.1%, followed by upper limbs with 29.2%, trunk with 14.2% and head with only 3.5%. Within the lower limbs, feett and ankles are the most injured articulations followed by shoulder in third place and knee in fourth place. There is a clear rise of injuries in upper limbs (specially in shoulders) over the last years, probably due to all the  tendency of new aerial moves with one had or event without hands. Also found that most of the injuries are proven to be during training periods (83%), and is when all windsurfers try really hard to perform correctly a manoeuvre, they risk much more.”

“Finally, the type of injury most common within PWA sailors in the ligament strain with a 29.3%, followed by cuts and fractures with a 12,.%, contusions (8.6%) and hamstring (7.8%).”

“In conclusion, there is need for more scientific studies about windsurfing in general, also the non professional part of it, there is needed more collaboration and communication with designers and physiotherapists in order to design better products to minimise most common injuries such as footsteps or some kind of shoulder support integrated in neoprene for example. Next step after this research will be to design a specific physiotherapy program to treat most common injuries and also a program to prevent them with specific work outs in specific body parts.”

PWA: On a personal level, since you started your physiotherapy degree to now, has your preparation changed at all before windsurfing? If so, what?

DM: “I am much more aware of my body, I listen to it and I experiment on myself as well on several treatments. I save myself when I know that my body needs some rest, at the end to prevent means to cure.”

PWA: What injuries have you had from windsurfing? And do you think that the injuries you suffered could’ve been prevented with physiotherapy?

DM: “My last two injuries had been actually on my shoulder in Tenerife and also on my foot. With my foot I had 5 months off the water .I totally believe there should be a multidisciplinary work between windsurfing designer and physiotherapist, so they can both contribute with their knowledge and help design a better foostrap, causing the most injuries in lower limb. Physiotherapists can add knoledge on biomechanics, anatomy, physiology, antropometric data, and so on.”

PWA: For recreational windsurfers are there any stretches or basic physio that you could already recommend to help prevent injuries?

DM: “In general, professional windsurfers take good care of their bodies as they want to spend most of the time sailing without any type of hassle. They invest money and time into their health, especially physiotherapist, as they know they can prevent many injuries with regular checks. So it’s important for recreational windsurfers to adopt this correct measure so they can sail longer. To go to the physiotherapist and be valued in regular basis can save you from many other injuries.”

PWA: Thanks Daida - we'll look forward to seeing competing in just over a weeks time.