The State of Hawaii in the winter is comparable to the Atlantic coast in France in summer. Many tourists (Hawaii hosts more than 7 million tourists each year) just try to risk activities like surfing but not necessarily well prepared. Many people go into the water and hurt themselves in the waves, including with a surfboard.

The authors of the study, published in the Hawai'i Medical Journal analyzed data on patients admitted to Queen's Medical Center (QMC) from January 2002 to December 2006 (QMC is the only trauma center in the sector, which had particular admitted the surfer Nathan Fletcher after fracturing his femur at Pipeline.)

Over this period, 8244 patients were admitted for severe traumatic injury. Among those injured, 466

An unusually high proportion of tourists hurt by practicing water activity. While tourists are on average 12.6% of the population in Hawaii, they account for 44.2% of total admissions for serious injuries related to water activity. Head injuries and injuries of the spine represent over 2 / 3 (68.2%) injuries in water.

Among the visitors injured in water, 57 patients (53.8%) were injured in surfing or any of its derivatives as sports body boarding, bodysurfing or the kite board. Accidents wave (as get sucked into a wave to shore break leaving the water) caused 20 accidents (18.9%). The dives in shallow water have caused 12 injuries (11.3%). A tourist was supported after a shark bite ... 70 patients of the 105 wounded in the water have suffered head injuries and / or spine.

In conclusion, the authors propose to make visitors aware of the risks associated with aquatic activities. Given that the majority of tourists arrive by plane to Hawaii, they suggest their show short instructional videos to explain the ABC of security Ocean translation or with subtitles in English, Japanese or Spanish. This in order to protect the physical integrity of tourists.