Sports injury in Australia

Body parts injured

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

• hip and lower limb, excluding ankle and foot (around 17,600 cases or 65 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
• shoulder and upper limb, excluding wrist and hand (about 15,300 cases or 57 hospitalisations per 100,000 population)
• head and neck (nearly 11,100 cases or 41 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) (Figure 2).

Of these injuries, people aged 15–24 were more likely to sustain injuries to the hip and lower limb (157 hospitalisations per 100,000 population), and head and neck (101 hospitalisations per 100,000 population). Shoulder and upper limb injuries occurred more often among those aged 5–14 (128 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Sports injury hospitalisations for children aged 0–4 were most likely to be for head and neck injuries (15 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Figure 2: Common injuries of sports injury hospitalisations by body part, Australia, 2023–24

For more detail, see data table 12.

Type of injuries sustained

A person can be hospitalised with multiple injuries, some of which will be more serious than others. This report only presents data about the main injury—known as the principal diagnosis—additional concurrent injuries are not included.

This report discusses common injury types including:

Fracture: A partial or complete break in a bone.

Soft-tissue injury: Sprain or strain of muscles, ligaments or joints.

Open wound: A break in the skin such as a cut, puncture or bite.

Intracranial injury: Injury inside the skull (often a concussion).

Dislocation: A separation of different bones where they join.

Superficial injury: An injury to the skin surface such as abrasion, bruising or blistering.

In just over half of all sports injury hospitalisations in 2023–24, fractures were the main injury (around 32,300 cases), followed by soft-tissue injuries (18% of injuries or 11,200 cases) and open wounds (7% of injuries or 4,500 cases).

Of these injuries, those aged 15–24 were more likely to sustain a fracture (244 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) and soft-tissue injury (111 hospitalisations per 100,000 population), while those aged 5–14 were more likely to sustain an open wound (36 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Just over one-third of all fractures occurred in the shoulder or upper limb (37% of fractures or 11,800 cases), hip or lower limb (23% of fractures or 7,400 cases), and wrist or hand (18% of fractures or 5,900 cases). 

For more detail, see data table 9.

Place of occurrence

Place of occurrence was specified in over two-thirds (68%) of all sports injury hospitalisations in 2023–24. Of these cases, nearly half (47% or 29,000 cases) occurred at a dedicated sports area, such as an equestrian facility, indoor sporting hall or swimming centre. Outdoor sporting ground was the most recorded place of injury (around 16,300 cases) with injuries more likely to occur among those aged 15–24 (195 hospitalisations per 100,000 population) (Figure 3).

For more detail, see data table 3.

Almost 1 in 10 cases (8% or 5,000 cases) occurred on or near a highway, street or road with the highest rate of hospitalisation primarily occurring among adults aged 45–64 (23 hospitalisations per 100,000 population). While beaches and other water bodies accounted for around 5% of sports injury hospitalisations (or 3,200 cases), with hospitalisations generally more likely to occur among those aged 15–24 (18 hospitalisations per 100,000 population).

Emergency admissions were more common than elective

About two-thirds of sports injury hospitalisations in 2023–24 were emergency admissions, which is when a patient arrives at hospital (usually through the emergency department) and is admitted within 24 hours. The proportion of emergency admissions to elective admissions (an admission that could be delayed by at least 24 hours) varied across sports, ranging from 88% of sports injury hospitalisations for equestrian activities to 36% for netball.

For more detail, see data table 13.