Sports injury in Australia

An estimated 1.1 million Australians aged 15 and over played basketball in 2023–24 (ASC 2024). During this same period, there were nearly 2,900 injury hospitalisations attributed to basketball: around 2,300 males and 520 females. The highest number of injury hospitalisations was among those aged 10–14 (750 cases) (Figure 11). The 0–4 age group had the lowest number of injury hospitalisations (6 cases), closely followed by those aged 60–64 (9 cases).

For more detail, see data table 4.

Trends over the past decade

Between 2014–15 and 2016–17, the age-standardised rate of injury hospitalisations from basketball was relatively stable for females at an average of 4.5 hospitalisations per 100,000 population. The rate of hospitalisations for males was steadily increasing during that time from 14 to 17 hospitalisations per 100,000 population (Figure 12). During this same period, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 1,600 to 1,900 for males and 470 to 530 for females.

Figure 12: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000 population) of injury hospitalisations from basketball by sex, Australia, 2014–15 to 2023–24

For more detail, see data table 5.

From 2017–18 to 2023–24, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 1,800 to 2,300 for males and 400 to 530 for females. Between 2017–18 to 2018–19, injury hospitalisation rates were relatively stable for both sexes.

From 2019–20 to 2021–22, injury hospitalisations fluctuated – a likely effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitalisation rates were lowest in 2019–20 for males (15 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and females (3.4 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Across 2022–23 and 2023–24, injury hospitalisation rates for males appeared to be steadily increasing (from 18 to 19 hospitalisations per 100,000 population), while for females it appears to have stabilised at around 4.3 hospitalisations per 100,000 population. Hospitalisations rates were highest for males (19 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) during that period.

Nature of injuries

For injury hospitalisations from basketball in 2023–24, the top 3 most injured body parts across all ages were:

• hip and lower limb, excluding ankle and foot (37% of injury hospitalisations or 1,000 cases)
• shoulder and upper limb (19% of injury hospitalisations or 550 cases)
• wrist and hand (19% of injury hospitalisations or about 550 cases) (Figure 13).

Figure 13: Common injuries and causes of sports injury hospitalisations from basketball, Australia, 2023–24

For more detail, see data table 12.

Fractures accounted for more than half of all injury hospitalisations (or 1,500 cases), followed by soft tissue injuries (28% of injury hospitalisations or 800 cases), dislocations (around 4.6% of injury hospitalisations or 130 cases) and intracranial injuries (4.4% of injury hospitalisations or 125 cases). About 94% of these intracranial injury hospitalisations were concussions: around 80 males and 35 females.

The top 3 common causes of injury hospitalisations from basketball in 2023–24 were:

• falls (890 cases or 3.3 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
• contact with living things (470 cases or 1.8 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
• overexertion (415 cases or 1.5 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Other causes not listed (including those unspecified causes of injury hospitalisations) contributed to a quarter of all injury hospitalisations from basketball.