Roller sports

The image shows a skateboard.

An estimated 128,000 Australians aged 15 and over participated in roller sports (in-line skating and rollerblading, roller skating, scooter riding, skateboarding) in 2024–25 (ASC 2025). During this period, there were just over 2,500 injury hospitalisations attributed to roller sports: around 1,700 males and 830 females. The highest number of injury hospitalisations was among those aged 10–14 (540 cases), while the 65+ age group had the lowest number of hospitalisations (21 cases) (Figure 29).

Figure 29: Number of injury hospitalisations from roller sports by 5-year age group, Australia, 2024–25

Column chart shows younger age groups between 5 and 14 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 1,700 to 3,200 for males and 720 to 1,800 for females (see Figure 30). Between 2017–18 to 2018–19, injury hospitalisation rates were relatively stable for males and females. Hospitalisation rates were lowest for females (6.4 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) in 2017–18.

Figure 30: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000 population) of injury hospitalisations from roller sports 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, there was a spike in injury hospitalisations – a likely effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitalisation rates were highest in 2020–21 for males (27 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and females (15 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Across 2022–23 and 2024–25, injury hospitalisation rates were decreasing for males (from 16 to 13 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and females (from 8.8 to 6.8 hospitalisations per 100,000 population). Hospitalisations rates were lowest for males (13 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) in 2024–25.

Roller sports categories

In 2024–25:

  • Almost half of roller sports injury hospitalisations were from skateboarding (Figure 31), with a rate of 7 hospitalisation per 100,000 for males (950 hospitalisations) and 1.6 per 100,000 for females (220 hospitalisations)
  • Scooter riding injury hospitalisations accounted for just over one third (33%) of total roller sports categories with 825 hospitalisations (3.0 per 100,000 population)
  • In-line skating and rollerblading accounted for the fewest injury hospitalisations (9.0% or 225 injury hospitalisations).

Figure 31: Injury hospitalisations from roller sports by category, Australia, 2024–25

Bar chart shows proportion of sports injury hospitalisations in 2024–25 for each roller sports category.


Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see data table 5.

Nature of injuries

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

  • shoulder and upper limb, excluding wrist and hand (1,100 cases)
  • hip and lower limb, excluding ankle and foot (640 cases)
  • head and neck (440 cases) (Figure 32).

Figure 32: Common injuries and causes of sports injury hospitalisations from roller sports, 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 7 out of 10 injury hospitalisations (or 1,800 cases), followed by open wounds (9.0% of injury hospitalisations or 230 cases) and intracranial injuries (5.9% injury hospitalisations or 150 cases). About 60% of these intracranial injury hospitalisations were concussions: 69 males and 19 females.

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

  • falls (2,200 cases or 8.0 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
  • transport (130 cases or 0.5 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
  • contact with objects (e.g. being struck by objects such as a wall) (72 cases or 0.3 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).
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