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Inline Skating Safety Statistics

The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) is the government organization that analyzes injury data caused by sports. The CPSC gets its data by checking emergency room information from selected hospitals around the country, then estimates national figures.

There are many statistics from the CPSC about skating injuries and we present some of these below. However, what is really useful is to compare the rate of skating injuries with injuries from other sports. In 2001 the New York Times did exactly this type of analysis using the CPSC's 1999 data.

The New York Times found the following rates of severe injuries (ie requiring hospitalization):

Sports	Injury Rate per 1000 Participants
Basketball	8.8
Soccer	8.6
Softball	8.0
Bicycling	4.1
Inline Skating	3.4
Tennis	2.6
Golf	1.2
Swimming	0.7

As was shown, the rate of serious injury for inline skaters is less than half the rate for those playing active team sports such as basketball, soccer, and softball. Moreover, the injury rate for skaters is less than for bicyclists. Clearly, inline skating is not so dangerous as many people imagine.

Why is that? We can conjecture there are three reasons. First, inline skating injuries that do occur are usually minor scrapes and "road rashes". Second, many inline skaters realize they are at some risk and wear proper protective gear. Third, many skaters probably do start out with a lesson, which significantly increases stopping ability and thus injury rate.

What can inline skaters do to reduce the possibility of a significant injury? Take a lesson and wear full protective gear. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that up to 1/3 of serious skating injuries could be eliminated by wearing wrist guards alone! As will be seen in the statistics below, this is true not only for beginners but for intermediate and advanced skaters as well.

Other CPSC Statistics

1996 Percent of Total Injuries by Location (alphabetized by body part)
Ankle	6.7%	Leg (lower)	3.8 %
Arm (lower)	13.5 %	Leg (upper)	1.1 %
Arm (upper)	0.7 %	Mouth	1.2 %
Elbow	7.6 %	Neck	0.8 %
Eyeball	0,2 %	Pubic Region	0.8 %
Face	7.1 %	Shoulder	4.2 %
Finger	5.5 %	Toe	0.2 %
Foot	1.0 %	Torso (lower)	5.1 %
Hand	3.6 %	Torso (upper)	1.8 %
Head	4.1 %	Wrist	24.2 %
Knee	6.8 %	Other	0.5 %
Source: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS)

Note: As can be seen from the above chart, wrist injuries are by far the most common skating injuries. Wearing wrist guards prevents this because it allows the wrist to slide along the pavement rather than absorbing all the shock of a fall directly.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INJURED INLINE SKATERS
	Characteristic	% of Sample
Ability Level
	Novice	10
	Beginner	34
	Intermediate	37
	Expert	18
Number of Times Inline Skating
	1 - 5	25
	6 - 12	12
	13 - 99	26
	> 100	37
Reasons for Participation
	To get exercise	75
	To play roller hockey	37
	For transportation	35
	To perform tricks (aggressive)	31
Number of Lessons Taken
	0	50
	1 - 5	37
	> 6	11
Ownership of Skates
	Owned	72
	Rented or borrowed	28
Condition of Skates
	Good	85
	Fair or poor	14
The percentages are calculated for an estimated 6,331 persons treated in emergency departments nationally during the study period. They are based on data from 161 injured skaters, weighted according to the hospital in the NEISS sample in which they were treated. These values do not include subjects for whom the following were unknown ability level (1 percent of the total), number of lessons taken (2 percent), or condition of skates (1 percent).

Note: 55% of injured skaters in this survey classified themselves as Intermediate or Advanced. Plus, 63% of the injured people could be classified as frequent skaters. The myth that only beginners will fall and get hurt is only that - a myth. Finally, note that only 48% of injured skaters had ever taken a lesson, even though stopping using the heel brake and falling properly using wrist guards are not natural motions. Take a lesson!

CHARACTERISTICS OF FALLS AND INJURIES SUSTAINED BY INLINE SKATERS
	Characteristic	% of Sample
Location of Fall
	Sidewalk or driveway	26
	Street	22
	Park or bike path	19
	Indoors	10
	Parking lot	9
	Other	14
Proximate Cause of Fall
	Spontaneous loss of balance	41
	Striking a stationary hazard ¹	40
	Striking a moving object ²	11
	Swerving to avoid hazard or collision	4
	Other	4
Special Factors Pertaining to Fall ³
	Hazardous Road Condition
	Cited	53
	Cited as key cause	63
	Skating out of control
	Cited	25
	Cited as key cause	67
	Poor visibility (twilight or darkness)
	Cited	17
	Cited as key cause	6
	Fatigue
	Cited	11
	Cited as key cause	37
Anatomical Site of Primary Injury ⁴
	Wrist	32
	Lower leg (including ankle)	13
	Face (or chin)	12
	Elbow	9
	Knee	6
	Head	5
	Other	23
Type of Injury
	Wrist fracture	25
	Face or chin laceration	10
	Wrist sprain	6
	Elbow fracture	5
	Lower-leg fracture	5
	Ankle sprain	4
Severity of Injury
	Major	51
	Minor	49
Safety Gear Worn at Time of Injury
	Wrist guards	33
	Elbow pads	28
	Knee pads	45
	Helmet	20
	All of the above gear	7
	No gear	46
The percentages are calculated for an estimated 6,331 persons treated in emergency departments nationally during the study period. They are based on data from 161 injured skaters, weighted according to the hospital in the NEISS sample in which they were treated. These values do not include subjects for whom the following were unknown ability level (1 percent of the total), number of lessons taken (2 percent), or condition of skates (1 percent).

Footnotes:
1. The hazard was usually a defect or debris in the road.
2. Collisions usually occurred with another skater, and less than one percent involved a motor vehicle.
3. More than one response was allowed. Percentages given for key-cause citations are of those who cited the factor.
4. Thirteen percent of skaters had more than one injury.
5. Seventy-two percent of wrist injuries, 48 percent of elbow injuries, 38 percent of head injuries, and 34 percent of knee injuries were major. Six percent of patients with major injuries were admitted to the hospital.

Note: Perhaps most interesting in the above statistics is that most injuries occurred from a "spontaneous loss of balance" (we all know what that means) or "striking a stationary hazard" (tripping over something). It is also interesting to note that while most skaters wear no gear, the most common kind of safety gear are knee pads, despite the fact that wrist injuries are much more common than knee injuries.