Injuries might as well be in the job description of pro surfers.
And that’s especially the case when it comes to big wave surfing. It’s not about if, but when. When you play with fire, you’re gonna get burned. Them’s the rules.
Like Maui’s Billy Kemper, who has faced this unfortunate part of the job many, many times. The latest? A tweaked knee from an airdrop wipeout at massive Cloudbreak.
Luckily, though, it doesn’t look like this injury is gonna sideline the big wave world champion for too long. In the video above, Kemper broke down his hasty approach to dealing with the tweaked knee; below, check out his narration:
“After this wipeout, I knew I tweaked my knee. The first step I did, was call my doctor, order an MRI, so we could figure out exactly what I had done.
“From there, I immediately headed Cali to start the healing process. In this situation, we’re going to avoid surgery and do a couple injection treatments. Stem cells, which what we’re doing here is harvesting some bone marrow from my pelvis, to get the stem cells out.
“These are all techniques that we’ve found that help us come back faster, and avoiding cutting ourselves open, and having a long road to recovery.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about having a good team with great communication.”
Related: How Billy Kemper Won a $50k Surf Contest with a Broken Foot (Video)
It’s not Kemper’s first brush with the dangers of his occupation. That knee has given him trouble before, he recently won the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout with a broken foot, and most seriously, he dealt with a brain injury which really took its toll.
Billy, however, spoke up about his struggles. And he encouraged others to do the same.
“This is real,” he said. “I owe a lot of apologies to my friends who have been concussed over the years. I would say, ‘man up. Get back out there. You look fine to me.’ But depression is real.”
Here’s to a speedy recovery.
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