Sports injury in Australia

Nearly one-third of all sports injury hospitalisations in 2023–24 were caused by falls (19,400 cases), followed by transport (22% of injury hospitalisations or 13,400 cases) and contact with living things, such as being struck by another person or animal, (12% of injury hospitalisations or 7,200 cases) (Figure 1). Of these injuries, males aged 5–14 were more likely to be hospitalised from falls (200 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) or transport (135 hospitalisations per 100,000 population), while males aged 15–24 were more likely to be hospitalised by contact with living things (135 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

For more detail, see data table 16.

Around 66% of sports injury hospitalisations were caused by falls that happened on the same level. These include:

• collision with, or pushing by, another person (24% of fall-related injury hospitalisations or 4,600 cases)
• slipping, tripping and stumbling (20% of fall-related injury hospitalisations or 4,000 cases)
• other falls (22% fall-related injury hospitalisations or 4,300 cases), including bumping against an object, falling from a toilet and falling into a bathtub or shower.

For more detail, see data table 18.

For sports injury hospitalisations caused by transport:

• just over a half (or 6,900 cases) involved a pedal cycle (e.g. bicycle, tricycle)
• more than one-quarter (or 3,600 cases) involved a motorcycle
• just under 15% (or 1,900 cases) involved an animal (e.g. horse) or animal-drawn vehicle.

Contact by another person contributed to 87% (or 6,300 cases) of all sports injury hospitalisations caused by contact with living things, followed by contact with venomous marine animals and plants (2.6% of injury hospitalisations or 190 cases).

For more detail, see data table 17.