Sterling Spencer Believes Pro Surfers Are Developing CTE

Professional surfer Sterling Spencer recently took to Instagram to address an issue he thinks more surfers should be aware of, check it out below:

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* A transcribed message from the Instagram of Sterling Spencer

I believe that pro surfers are developing CTE. I think we’re getting tons of brain injuries, tons of concussions from surfing. Especially if you are an aerialist or a big wave surfer. Water is soft, but when you hit it at 30 mph it is not very soft. We’re seeing more and more depressing in surfing, and we’re seeing some of our legends take their own lives. It’s something we really have to look into because the kids are 10 years old doing flips now. How many brain injuries are they getting and they don’t know it? For about fifteen years, I’ve struggled with my mental health. When I went to my neurologist six weeks ago, he hooked me up to the machine and was like, “Oh wow. Are you a football player or what’s going on?” I was like, I’m as surfer. He said, you’ve had brain injuries for a while now. I never really hit my head until a year ago. If I’m getting brain injuries, there’s guys doing a lot bigger airs and surfing a lot bigger waves than me. I feel like it’s something that hasn’t really been brought to light. I think it’s something we all need to look into for serious.