Sports Injuries Statistics in the USA

As per Insurance Information Institutes research, USA hospitals record over 3.3 million sports-related injuries a year. We wanted to fully understand what’s causing all of these injuries and what the risks are for each age group.

Key Facts

More than 1.2 MILLION children are hospitalized each year while playing sports
Projections show that 60-75% of injuries never get treated at the hospitals and are not officially recorded.
Actual numbers are estimated to be as many as 9 million injuries a year across all age groups.

Injuries by Age Groups

In this study, we also took a deep dive into age groups to look at which sports most the highest risk for every age group

Under 15’s – The most dangerous sports for children include Football, Soccer, and Baseball.
Young People (15-24) – The highest percentage of injuries were recorded while playing Basketball, Volleyball, and Hockey.
Adults (25+) – Horseback riding, Boxing, and Martial record the highest percent of injuries for adults over 25 years old.

It’s a no brainer that Under 15’s suffer most from popular youth sports like Football, Soccer and Baseball, although it’s quite surprisingly to see these non-contact sports racking up so many injuries.

For the older age brackets, Horseback riding comes as the biggest surprise given the extensive training and professionalism within the sport.

Most Vs. Least harmful Sports

Next, we decided to analyse the most and least harmful sports across all age groups. The results were quite interesting here as it turns out that most “high risk” sports are much safer than everyday cardio sports like bike riding and gym equipment.

Gym & Bike riding account for more than a quarter of all sports-related injuries
Boxing accounts for less than 0.5% of all injuries a year across all age groups.
Even Bowling is more dangerous than Boxing – 16 615 vs. 16 071 injuries a year.

Other Key Facts

Elsewhere in the study, we uncovered a number of other fascinating facts, including…

Typical “dangerous” sports such as boxing only account for less than 1% of all injuries
More people get hurt Fishing and Camping than in contact sports like Martial Arts.
Trampolines alone amount for 2x more injuries than Boxing, Martial Arts, and Hockey combined.
The Sports Medicine industry makes over 8.1 BILLION USD a year profiting from sports injuries
Adults and Children are both equally injured by BB Guns each year indicating a worrying lack of regulation

So there we have it. We were very surprised to understand which sports are causing the most harm, and perhaps the biggest eye opener here is the risk of everyday activities such as Gym going and Cycling.

One thing for sure here is that the medical industry is perhaps the only winner in all of this!

The Data

Bellow you can find the full dataset and analysis to pick apart and draw your own conclusions from.

Sport, activity or equipment	Injuries	Younger than 5	5 to 14	15 to 24	25 to 64	65 and older
Exercise, exercise equipment	468,315	6,266	46,926	87,189	250,747	77,187
Bicycles and accessories	417,485	12,691	113,445	58,072	191,049	42,228
Basketball	403,980	1,250	139,733	185,316	76,066	1,615
Football	292,306	429	149,149	116,946	25,131	651
Playground equipment	222,527	54,372	148,577	7,256	10,376	1,946
ATV’s, mopeds, minibikes, etc.	201,847	4,407	37,831	51,686	89,833	18,090
Swimming, pools, equipment	190,743	21,811	77,296	31,309	47,457	12,871
Soccer	188,336	2,060	84,938	71,030	29,569	739
Baseball, softball	157,164	2,380	65,058	48,188	38,211	3,327
Skateboards	148,921	2,837	46,071	51,864	44,891	3,257
Trampolines	123,029	23,979	74,378	12,711	11,625	336
Lacrosse, rugby, misc. ball games	74,326	163	28,310	22,613	13,371	9,869
Skating (excl. In-line)	67,008	833	31,293	12,980	20,611	1,291
Fishing	61,932	1,926	11,987	9,542	31,028	7,449
Volleyball	51,455	32	18,479	22,652	9,674	618
Horseback riding	43,469	963	8,200	9,650	20,563	4,093
Hockey	36,885	200	12,268	14,951	9,060	407
Track and field activities, equipment	28,048	0	11,287	12,274	4,189	298
Martial arts	27,008	288	7,720	6,868	11,583	549
Racquet sports	25,844	250	3,408	4,091	9,229	8,867
Beach, picnic, camping equipment	25,728	2,803	4,391	2,526	11,797	4,212
Water skiing, tubing, surfing	18,143	98	2,186	5,932	9,389	538
Bowling	16,615	938	1,293	2,478	7,762	4,145
Boxing	16,071	23	2,001	7,000	6,976	71
Nonpowder guns, BB’S, pellets	11,995	369	3,583	4,052	3,460	530
Toboggans, sleds, snow discs, etc.	10,661	942	4,950	1,255	3,398	115

Henry Foster

Hey there, my name is Henry and I am the creator and editor of this site. I have been golfing for the past 14 years and my mission is to democratize this misunderstood sport I love.