let's look at the numbers.
This will be a post I’ll update frequently as I gather and compile new data.
When discussing injuries in any sport or activity, it’s helpful to compare the numbers to other activities.
Getting injured when you are active is simply a reality. Most of the time, injuries are simply accidents.
But journalists often write sensationalist titles for their articles covering new research showing “<some type of activity> causes <some percentage or statistic> of <some injury or negative effect>”. Actually, most journalists don’t even give a number in the title unless it’s scary.
If you want to see if a number is actually high, it’s more helpful to compare it to other numbers. So in this post, I’ll present some numbers for common sports and activities.
Enjoy!
Again: this data will be updated frequently.
| Sports | Injuries (per 100 hours) | Reference |
| Soccer | 6.20 | 1 |
| UK Rugby | 1.92 | 1 |
| UK Basketball | 1.03 | 1 |
| South African Rugby | 0.70 | 1 |
| USA Track-and-Field | 0.57 | 1 |
| B-Boying (Break-dancing) | 0.49 | 2 |
| UK Cross-country | 0.37 | 1 |
| UK Track-and-Field | 0.26 | 1 |
| Physical Education | 0.18 | 1 |
| USA Football | 0.10 | 1 |
| Squash | 0.10 | 1 |
| UK Tennis | 0.07 | 1 |
| Badminton | 0.05 | 1 |
| USA Gymnastics | 0.044 | 1 |
| USA Basketball | 0.03 | 1 |
| Weight Training | 0.0012 [1 injury per 85,733 hours] | 1 |
| USA Powerlifting | 0.0008 [1 injury per 121,208 hours] | 1 |
| Weightlifting [=Olympic style] | 0.0006 [1 injury per 165,551 hours] | 1 |
| USA Volleyball | 0.0004 | 1 |
| USA Tennis | 0.0003 | 1 |
| USA Cross-country | 0.00 | 1 |
1. Brian P. Hamill, “Relative Safety of Weightlifting and Weight Training,” Journal of Strength Conditioning Research, Vol. 8, No. 1(1994): 53-57
2. Kauther MD, Wedemeyer C, Wegner A, Kauther KM, von Knoch M. Breakdance injuries and overuse syndromes in amateurs and professionals. Am J Sports Med. 2009 Apr;37(4):797-802.
