Australian surfing Tom Carroll is playing down his injuries after he was treated by paramedics and rushed to hospital following an accident at North Narabeen in New South Wales on Wednesday morning.
Carroll, 63, was surfing when he copped a nasty whack on the head in what he says now is all “a bit of a blur”.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Surfing legend Tom Carroll OK after injury scare.
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He was treated by paramedics, stretchered off the beach, and then rushed to Northern Beaches Hospital at around 9am AEDT.
There were fears for his spine and neck and Carroll says he still has some concerns.
After he was discharged from hospital (and reading various headlines), Carroll was keen to tell people he was OK.
“It’s OK … I just got a few stitches in the head and a very sore neck,” Carroll said on Instagram.
“So some spinal (concerns) but I was cleared, OK, by the docs.
“And (I’m) AOK, thank you very much for all your concerns … (but) I’m so thankful that I’m here standing on my own two feet talking to you about it.”
Keeping his good sense of humour, Carroll said the injury was “nothing like the fin (of a board) up the bum”.
“In fact, I wouldn’t want to wish that on anyone,” he said.
“Get the neck and head injury anytime … (this is just a) hole in the head.”
But Carroll did admit he still had some concerns.
“It’s all a bit of a blur but I must have hit something,” he told News Corp.
“The impact itself scorpions me over my board which created a really bad electrical sound which concerned me.
“I’m going to look into my neck and spine … because I’m not quite sure if everything is OK.”
Carroll is famous for becoming the first goofy footed world champion and also for his big-wave surfing.
On his first world tour, he made the finals of the 1979 Pipe Masters.
He then gradually moved up the rankings to claim the world title in 1983.
In 1988, he became an instant millionaire after securing a huge contract from Quiksilver.
However, later it emerged he had a drug problem and in 2013 he published a book with his brother Nick Carroll titled TC.
The book deals with his “terrible wheel of drug addiction” which had a severe impact on his family and friends.