Sports injury in Australia

Wheeled motor sports include motorbike racing and jumping, car racing, all-terrain vehicle riding and go-carting (see technical notes for an inclusive list).

An estimated 300,300 Australians aged 15 and over participated in wheeled motor sports in 2023–24 (ASC 2024). During this period, there were about 3,900 injury hospitalisations attributed to wheeled motor sports: 3,500 males and 390 females. The highest number of injury hospitalisations was among those aged 15–19 (750 cases), while the 0–4 age group had the lowest number of hospitalisations (22 cases) (Figure 35).

For more detail, see data table 4.

Trends over the past decade

Between 2014–15 and 2016–17, the age-standardised rate of sports injury hospitalisations was relatively stable for males at an average of 30 hospitalisations per 100,000 population. While for females, there was some fluctuation during that period with rates ranging from 2.5 to 3.1 hospitalisations per 100,000 population (Figure 36). During this time, the number of hospitalisations was around 3,400 for males and ranged from 280 to 335 for females.

Figure 36: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000 population) of injury hospitalisations from wheeled motor sport 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 3,300 to 4,100 for males and 320 to 425 for females. Between 2017–18 to 2018–19, injury hospitalisation rates were stable for males and females.

From 2019–20 to 2021–22, injury hospitalisations fluctuated – a likely effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitalisation rates peaked in 2020–21 for males (34 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and females (3.6 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Across 2022–23 and 2023–24, injury hospitalisation rates appeared to have stabilised for both sexes, at an average of 27 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for males and an average of 3.1 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for females.

Nature of injuries

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

• shoulder and upper limb, excluding wrist and hand (27% of injury hospitalisations or just below 1,100 cases)
• hip and lower limb, excluding ankle and foot (25% of injury hospitalisations or 1,000 cases)
• trunk (20% of injury hospitalisations or 800 cases) (Figure 37).

Figure 37: Common injuries and causes of sports injury hospitalisations from wheeled motor sports, Australia, 2023–24

For more detail, see data table 12.

Fractures accounted for more than half of all injury hospitalisations (or 2,300 cases), followed by open wounds (8.9% of injury hospitalisations or 345 cases) and intracranial injuries (6.3% of injury hospitalisations or 245 cases). About 72% of these intracranial injury hospitalisations were concussions: around 150 males and 27 females.

The top 3 common causes of injury hospitalisations from wheeled motor sports in 2023–24 were:

• transport (95% of injury hospitalisations or 3,700 cases)
• contact with objects (2.3% of injury hospitalisations or 91 cases)
• falls (0.7% of injury hospitalisations or 27 cases).