Basketball

The image shows a basketball.

An estimated 1.0 million Australians aged 15 and over played basketball in 2024–25 (ASC 2025). During this same period, there were nearly 2,900 injury hospitalisations attributed to basketball: around 2,300 males and 570 females. The highest number of injury hospitalisations was among those aged 15–19 (760 cases) (Figure 11). The 0–4 age group had the lowest number of injury hospitalisations (3 cases), closely followed by those aged 55–59 (9 cases).

Figure 11: Number of injury hospitalisations from basketball by 5-year age group, Australia, 2024–25

Column chart shows younger age groups between 10 and 19 years had the highest concentration of hospitalisations in 2024–25.


Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see data table 5.

Trends over the past decade

From 2017–18 to 2024–25, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 1,800 to 2,300 for males and 400 to 570 for females (see Figure 12). Between 2017–18 to 2018–19, injury hospitalisation rates were relatively stable for both sexes.

Figure 12: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000 population) of injury hospitalisations from basketball by sex, Australia, 2015–16 to 2024–25

Line graph shows trends for males, females and persons with a dashed vertical line separating years 2016–17 and 2017–18 to indicate a break in time series, described in technical notes.

Line graph shows trends for males, females and persons with a dashed vertical line separating years 2016–17 and 2017–18 to indicate a break in time series, described in technical notes.

For more detail, see data table 6.

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 2024–25, injury hospitalisation rates for males appeared to be steadily increasing (ranging from 18 to 19 hospitalisations per 100,000 population), while for females it appears to have stabilised at around 4.0 hospitalisations per 100,000 population. Hospitalisations rates were highest for males (19 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) in 2023–24.

Nature of injuries

For injury hospitalisations from basketball in 2024–25, the top three most injured body parts across all ages were:

  • hip and lower limb, excluding ankle and foot (1,100 cases)
  • head and neck (540 cases)
  • wrist and hand (about 530 cases) (Figure 13).

Figure 13: Common injuries and causes of sports injury hospitalisations from basketball, Australia, 2024–25

Diagram of human body shows percentage of body parts injured in hospitalisations in 2024–25, including injury types and causes.

Diagram of human body shows percentage of body parts injured in hospitalisations in 2024–25, including injury types and causes.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see data table 13.

Fractures accounted for around half of all injury hospitalisations (or 1,500 cases), followed by soft tissue injuries (28% of injury hospitalisations or 800 cases), dislocations (around 4.9% of injury hospitalisations or 140 cases) and intracranial injuries (4.5% of injury hospitalisations or 125 cases). About 90% of these intracranial injury hospitalisations were concussions: around 80 males and 34 females. 

The top three common causes of injury hospitalisations from basketball in 2024–25 were:

  • falls (830 cases or 3.0 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
  • contact with living things (e.g. another human) (520 cases or 1.9 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
  • overexertion (450 cases or 1.7 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.

Previous page
Next page