Background: Surfer's myelopathy is a non-traumatic spinal cord injury that was first described in a publication in 2004. However, most emergency physicians are not familiar with this rare disease.
Case presentation: The patient was a 19-year-old female novice surfer. She had experienced back discomfort without trauma during her surfing lessons. The discomfort turned to dysesthesia of both legs. She could not walk after 1 h and was brought to our hospital. Physical examination revealed weakness and dysesthesia of both legs, absent deep tendon reflexes, bilaterally positive Babinski reflex, and bladder and rectal disturbance. Spine magnetic resonance imaging revealed T2 prolongation from T7 to the medullary cone. She was diagnosed with surfer's myelopathy and treated conservatively. She recovered well and was discharged on day 28.
Conclusion: Emergency physicians must be better informed about surfer's myelopathy. Novice surfers and instructors should be educated on the early signs and symptoms of this condition.
Keywords: Emergency Department; central nervous system; spinal cord injury; spinal cord ischemia; surfing.