Overexertion

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Injuries from overexertion are typically the result of physical stress or overuse of the body. This can include from lifting heavy objects, repetitive movements, motion sickness, or lack of food or water.

Overexertion and related injuries caused:

This represents around 3% of injury hospitalisations.

In males, the 15–24 age group had the highest risk, while in females, the 65 and over group had the highest risk.

Injuries from overexertion are represented by the ICD external cause codes X50–57. Overexertion and strenuous or repetitive movements account for almost all hospitalisations in this group.

This chapter summarises data on unintentional injuries only. Intentional injuries and deaths are included under Self-harm injuries and suicide or Assault and homicide.

Deaths from overexertion injuries are rare, and are not discussed in detail below.

Causes of hospitalisation

In 2020–21, almost all hospitalisations in this group were caused by overexertion and strenuous or repetitive movements (Table 1).

Notes

1. Rates are crude per 100,000 population.
2. Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
3. Codes in brackets refer to the ICD-10-AM (11th edition) external cause codes (ACCD 2019).

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see Data tables B23–24.

Seasonal differences

Hospital admissions for overexertion injuries do not follow a strong seasonal pattern. Cases typically remain relatively steady throughout the year, with a dip over December and January.

In March 2020, COVID-19 restrictions coincided with a steep decline in hospitalisations for overexertion. This resulted in 30% fewer from March to May than the in same period of the previous year. As initial restrictions eased, hospitalisations rose back towards previous levels (Figure 1).

The interactive display illustrates other seasonal differences in injury hospitalisations.

Figure 1: Seasonal differences in overexertion injury hospitalisations, 2018–19 to 2020–21

Notes
1. Admission counts have been standardised into two 15-day periods per month.
2. A scale up factor has been applied to June admissions to account for cases not yet separated.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

Trends over time

The age-standardised rate of injury hospitalisations due to overexertion in 2020–21 was 12% higher than the previous year. The previous year had seen a dip that appears to have been related to COVID-19 restrictions.

Over the period from 2011–12 to 2016–17 there was an average annual increase of 3.7% for the age-standardised rate of hospitalisations  (Figure 2). 

There is a break in the time series for hospitalisations between 2016–17 and 2017–18, due to a change in data collection methods (see the technical notes for details).

Figure 2: Overexertion injury hospitalisations, by sex and year

For more detail, see Data tables C1–3 and F1–4.

Age and sex differences

Rates of hospitalisation from overexertion injuries differ between males and females over the life-stages (Figure 2). In 2020–21:

• 58% of hospitalisations were for males
• for males, the highest rate was in the 15–24 age group
• for females, the highest rate was for those aged 65 and over
• the age-standardised rates of overexertion hospitalisations were:
  • 73 cases per 100,000 males, and
  • 49 per 100,000 females.

Figure 2: Overexertion injury hospitalisations, by age group and sex, 2020–21

For more detail, see Data tables A1–3 and D1–3.

Severity

There are many ways that the severity, or seriousness, of an injury can be assessed. Some of the ways to measure the severity of hospitalised injuries are:

• number of days in hospital
• time in an intensive care unit (ICU)
• time on a ventilator
• in-hospital deaths.

Overexertion injuries appear to be less severe than the average for all hospitalised injuries in 2020–21 (Table 2).

Note: Average number of days in hospital (length of stay) includes admissions that are transfers from one hospital to another or transfers from one admitted care type to another within the same hospital, except where care involves rehabilitation procedures.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see Data tables A13–15.

Nature of injuries sustained

In 2020–21, the hip and lower limb was the body area most often identified as the main site of injury in overexertion hospitalisations (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Overexertion hospitalisations, by main body part injured, 2020–21

Hover over a body part for more information:

Notes

1. Main body part refers to the principal reason for hospitalisation.
2. ‘Trunk’ includes thorax, abdomen, lower back, lumbar spine & pelvis.
3. Number and percentage of injuries classified as Other, multiple, and incompletely specified body regions and Injuries not described in terms of body region not shown—see Data table A11.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see Data table A11.

Soft-tissue injuries were the most common type of injury for people who were hospitalised due to overexertion (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Overexertion hospitalisations, by type of injury, 2020–21

For more detail, see Data table A10.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

In 2020–21, among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:

• there were 650 hospitalisations (Table 3) and fewer than 5 deaths due to overexertion
• males were 1.4 times as likely as females to be hospitalised
• hospitalisation rates were highest among people aged 15–24 (Figure 5).

Note: Rates are crude per 100,000 population.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

In 2020–21, Indigenous Australians, compared with non-Indigenous Australians, were 1.4 times as likely to be hospitalised due to overexertion (Table 4).

Notes

1. Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.
2. ‘Non-Indigenous Australians’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

The age group with the highest rate of overexertion hospitalisations among Indigenous Australians was the 15–24 year-olds (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Overexertion injury hospitalisations, by Indigenous status, by age group and sex, 2020–21

For more detail, see Data tables A4–A6 and D4–D8.

Remoteness

In 2020–21 males living in Inner and Outer regional areas had the highest rates of hospitalisation due to overexertion (Table 5).

Note: Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

The highest age-specific rate of overexertion hospitalisation cases was among the 15–24 age group living in Remote areas of Australia. (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Overexertion injury hospitalisations, by remoteness, by age group and sex, 2020–21

For more detail, see Data tables A7–A9 and D9–10.

For information on how the statistics were calculated by remoteness, see the technical notes.

Data details

Technical notes: how the data were calculated

Data tables: download the full tables

Glossary

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