On the Mend

Zeke Lau Talks Recovery

Zeke Lau had a feeling there might be something wrong. At Nationals last summer, midway through the final, bolts of pain were shooting from his lower back throughout his body, reeking havoc on his nerves. Zeke would go on to win his first national title, but between the joys of winning at that level, he was plagued by the stomach-turning bouts of pain emanating from his back. A visit to the doctor when he returned home to HI would bear the fruit of bad news. Zeke had broken his back a few months prior, the result of an ill-timed floater. Despite winning a national title in excruciating pain, if Zeke wanted to continue his budding career as a professional surfer, he would have to put down his thruster and heal.

Freesurf: So what happened, man?

Zeke Lau: I basically just did a floater and landed bad. When I came down it was pretty soar but I just kept surfing on it for a while, just hoping it would get better. And it didn’t.

FS: So you won your fist national title with a broken back?

ZL: Yeah, I didn’t know it was broken at the time, but it hurt pretty bad. But as soon as I get back to Hawaii I had an MRI and the doctor said that I’d broken one of my lower vertebras.

FS: What was going on in your mind when you heard the news?

ZL: I was pretty disappointed because I knew I couldn’t surf for a while. But at the same time, it was kind of a relief to finally understand what was wrong with my back and that I could fix it.

FS: After you spoke with the doctor, what happened next?

ZL: Basically nothing. I didn’t surf for three months. I didn’t do any exercise or anything like that…I just let it heal. It wasn’t so bad though. I was able to do a lot of the things that I don’t normally have time to do. I focused a lot on school [Zeke is a student at Kamehameha] and went to driver’s ed.

FS: And how about now? How’s the back?

ZL: It’s pretty much all healed. I’d say it’s at 100 percent. I’ve been surfing and training and it feels really good.