Overexertion

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 was the eighth leading cause of injury hospitalisations in 2024–25 and the fifteenth leading cause of injury deaths 2023–24.

Overexertion injuries resulted in:

Deaths due to this cause are relatively rare so are described in limited detail in this article.

Injuries causing hospitalisation or death were most common for:

Types of overexertion

In 2024–25, nearly all injury hospitalisations due to overexertion were classified as overexertion and strenuous or repetitive movements (99.7%) (Table 1).

Note: Crude rate per 100,000 population.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

Trends over time

The number of injury hospitalisations due to overexertion has remained stable over the past decade (Figure 1).

Between 2015–16 and 2024–25, the rate decreased from 60.2 to 52.8 per 100,000 population (Figure 1). The hospitalisation rate in 2024–25 was 3.7% lower than the previous 5-year average rate of 54.8 per 100,000 population.

Figure 1: Injury hospitalisations due to overexertion, 2015–16 to 2024–25

Note: Columns represent the number of hospitalisations, and the line graph represents the crude rate (per 100,000 population).

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

The number of deaths due to overexertion has generally increased over time, however the number of injury deaths in 2024–25 was the lowest since 2018–19 (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Injury deaths due to overexertion, 2014–15 to 2023–24

Note: Columns are the number of deaths due to overexertion injuries.

Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.

What injuries occur?

Body part injured and type of injury

In 2024–25, the hip and lower limb was the most common site of overexertion injury hospitalisations (25.6 per 100,000 population), followed by the trunk (10.2 per 100,000) (Figure 3).

Soft-tissue injuries were the most common type of injury for people who were hospitalised for overexertion-related injuries (43.3%, 6,266 hospitalisations) followed by fractures (28.1%, 4,061 hospitalisations) and dislocations (11.3%, 1,640 hospitalisations).

For more detail, see supplementary data tables H9 and H10.

Activity while injured and place of occurrence

Severity

Injury hospitalisations for overexertion are generally less severe than the average of all hospitalised injuries. 

In 2024–25, the average length of stay in hospital for overexertion-related injuries was shorter, a lower proportion of cases involved ICU admission or continuous ventilatory support, and a lower proportion died in hospital (Table 2).

Notes:

1. 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.
2. ‘All injuries’ includes overexertion injuries in the total calculations.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see supplementary data table H14.

Age and sex

Rates of hospitalisation and death due to overexertion injuries were higher among males and differ by age (Figure 4).

For overexertion-related injury hospitalisations in 2024–25:

• 8,328 cases (57%) were males
• the rate for males (61.2 per 100,000 population) was 1.4 times that for females (44.4 per 100,000)
• males aged 15–24 had the highest rate (82.8 per 100,000).

For overexertion-related injury deaths in 2023–24, all 10 injury deaths were among males.

For more detail, see supplementary data tables H3 and H4.

First Nations people

Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people:

• there were 641 hospitalisations due to overexertion injuries in 2024–25 (61.1 per 100,000 population)
• males were 1.3 times as likely as females to be hospitalised (69.9 and 52.2 per 100,000 population, respectively)
• hospitalisation rates were highest among people aged 25–44 (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Injury hospitalisations due to overexertion among First Nations people, by age and sex, 2024–25

Note: Columns are number of hospitalisations, the line is the crude rate (per 100,000 population). 

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Comparison between First Nations and non-Indigenous Australians

Compared with non-Indigenous Australians, First Nations people were 1.4 times as likely to be hospitalised due to an overexertion-related injury in 2024–25 (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Injury hospitalisations due to overexertion, by Indigenous status, 2017–18 to 2024–25

Notes:

1. Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population.
2. ‘Non-Indigenous’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

The rate of overexertion injury hospitalisations was highest among the 25–44 age group for First Nations Australians and among the 65 and above for non-Indigenous Australians (Figure 7). Deaths data are not presented because of small numbers.

Figure 7: Injury hospitalisations due to overexertion, by Indigenous status and age group, 2024–25

Notes:

1. Crude rates per 100,000 population.
2. ‘Non-Indigenous’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database, ABS National, state and territory population, ABS Estimates and Projections, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

For more detail, see supplementary data tables H5 and H6.

State and territory

The states and territories with the highest rates of overexertion injury hospitalisation in 2023–24 were:

• Australian Capital Territory (73.2 per 100,000 population)
• Queensland (67.0 per 100,000)
• Northern Territory (66.0 per 100,000).

Numbers and rates of injury deaths cannot be reported by state and territory due to low numbers.

Figure 8: Age-standardised rate of overexertion injury hospitalisations, by state or territory of usual residence, Australia, 2023–24

Notes:

1. ‘State and territory’ refers to the state and territory of usual residence for the individual.
2. Age-standardised rates per 100,000 population.

Sources: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database and ABS National, state and territory population.

Remoteness

In 2023–24, the rates of overexertion injury hospitalisation were lowest in the most (Very remote) and least (Major cities) remote areas of Australia (44.9 and 48.0 per 100,000 population, respectively) (Figure 9).

People living in Remote areas had the highest rate of hospitalisation (66.2 per 100,000) and were 1.4 times as likely to be hospitalised for an overexertion injury in 2023–24 as people living in Major cities.

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

Socioeconomic areas

Level of socioeconomic disadvantage in Australia impacts the risk of injuries. People living in the second most socioeconomically disadvantaged areas of Australia, compared to the least socioeconomically disadvantaged were 1.3 times as likely to be hospitalised by an overexertion injury in 2023–24.

Data details

• Technical notes: how the data were calculated
• Data tables: download the full tables
• Glossary
  
  

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