Sports injury in Australia

Ice and snow sports include bobsledding, skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling and ice skating (see technical notes for an inclusive list).

An estimated 224,600 Australians aged 15 and over participated in ice and snow sports in 2023–24 (ASC 2024). During this same period, there were around 1,600 injury hospitalisations that were attributed to ice and snow sports: 880 males and 730 females. The highest number of injury hospitalisations was among those aged 20–24 (235 cases), while the 5–9 age group had the lowest reportable number of hospitalisations (35 cases) (Figure 20).

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 both sexes, at an average 7.2 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for males and 5.8 hospitalisations per 100,000 population for females (Figure 21). During this same period, the number of hospitalisations ranged from 780 to 890 for males and 650 to 720 for females.

Figure 21: Number and age-standardised rate (per 100,000 population) of injury hospitalisations from ice and snow sports, 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 400 to 1,100 for males and 380 to 890 for females. Between 2017–18 to 2018–19, injury hospitalisation rates were increasing for females (from 6.7 to 7.4 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and males (from 7.3 to 8.7 hospitalisations per 100,000 population). 

From 2019–20 to 2021–22, injury hospitalisations fluctuated noticeably – a likely effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hospitalisation rates were at their lowest for males (3.3 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and females (3.2 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) in 2020–21.

Across 2022–23 and 2023–24, injury hospitalisation rates appeared to have slightly decreased for males (from 7.2 to 6.7 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and females (from 6.3 to 5.7 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Nature of injuries

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

• shoulder and upper limb, excluding wrist and hand (40% of injury hospitalisations or 650 cases)
• hip and lower limb, excluding ankle and foot (34% of injury hospitalisations or 550 cases)
• trunk (9.3% of injury hospitalisations or 150 cases) (Figure 22).

Figure 22: Common injuries and causes of sports injury hospitalisations from ice and snow sports, Australia, 2023–24

For more detail, see data table 12.

Fractures accounted for nearly two-thirds all injury hospitalisations (or 1,000 cases), followed by soft-tissue injuries (20% of injury hospitalisations or 325 cases), dislocations (3.4% of injury hospitalisations or 55 cases) and intracranial injuries (3.2% of injury hospitalisations or 50 cases). About 69% of these intracranial injury hospitalisations were concussions: 14 males and 22 females.

The top 3 common causes of injury hospitalisations from ice and snow sports in 2023–24 were:

• falls (63% of injury hospitalisations or 1,000 cases)
• overexertion (5.1% of injury hospitalisations or 82 cases)
• contact with objects (5% of injury hospitalisations or 80 cases).

Other causes not listed (including those unspecified causes of injury hospitalisations) contributed to nearly a quarter of all injury hospitalisations from ice and snow sports.