Skateboarding related injury (all ages)

October 2008

Over the two-year period from Jan 2006 to December 2007, there were 534 admissions to hospital in Victoria for injuries related to skateboarding. Also over the same period there were at least a further 1,913 cases of skateboarding injury that were treated in a Victorian emergency department. These data represent an average of 267 admissions and 957 ED presentations for skateboard injury per year.

Age: Older children, teenagers and young adults accounted for the bulk of skateboarding related injury cases. Approximately 81% of hospital admissions and 86% of ED presentations were among young persons aged 5-24 years old. Older adults aged 25-39 years accounted for 15% of admissions and 11% of presentations, however the proportion of injured persons aged 40 years or older was much smaller (3% and 2% respectively).

Gender: Only a small minority of persons seeking hospital treatment for injuries due to skateboarding were female, as 90% of both admissions and presentations were male.

Place of occurrence: For ED presentations, the location where the injury took place was most commonly a ‘place for recreation' such as a skatepark or ramp (26%), a ‘road, street or highway', (including sidewalks and footpaths, 22%) or in or around the home (22%). Admissions location data were unreliable, 67% of cases did not list a place of occurrence.

Cause: Falls were the major cause of skateboard-related admissions (89%) and presentations (81%). Less common were injuries due to impact with an object or person (3% admissions, 7% presentations) and ‘transport' related injuries involving other traffic (5% admissions, 2% presentations).

(admissions n=534, presentations n=1913)
Source: VAED & VEMD Jan 2006 to Dec 2007
Figure 1: Skateboarding related admissions and ED presentations by age group

Injury type: Most admissions were due to fractures (70%), however there was also a relatively high level of intracranial head injuries, mostly concussions (8%). Also frequent were open wounds (6%) and dislocations, sprains and strains (5%).

For presentations, fractures (33%) and dislocations, sprains and strains (32%) were most common, followed by open wounds (9%) and superficial injuries such as bruising and abrasions (8%).

(admissions n=534, presentations n=1913)
Source: VAED & VEMD Jan 2006 to Dec 2007
Figure 2: Skateboarding related admissions and presentations by injury type

Body region affected: Injury to the elbow and forearm (41%, mostly forearm and wrist) and knee and lower leg (20%) were most frequent among admissions, followed by injuries to the head (15%) and the wrist and hand (8.4%).

Among presentations, the wrist and hand (28%), elbow and forearm (21%) and the ankle and foot (21%) were most commonly affected. Less common were injuries to the head (10%) and the knee and lower leg (6.4%)

Injury prevention (safety tips): The high proportion of injury to the elbow, forearm, wrist and knee illustrates the need to wear elbow and knee pads together with wrist guards while skateboarding. Likewise the relatively high level of potentially severe head and intracranial injuries outlines the importance of wearing a helmet when skateboarding to prevent injury.

Avoiding skateboarding on roads or around traffic would limit the risk of potentially severe crashes with motor vehicles.

Further information : For further information regarding skateboarding and other skating injuries, view the MUARC fact sheet. [187KB]

Data source: Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset (VAED) & Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD) January 2006 to December 2007 (2 years)

Search Strategy: [VAED]: Cases were selected that had the activity when injured code of: 'U66.3 In-line skating' [VEMD]: Text narrative included the search terms 'skateboard(ing)' and spelling variations, Cases were manually checked for relevance and excluded if the narratives were irrelevant or referred to other types of injury e.g. assault.