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 as 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.
 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
1
  Striking a stationary hazard  40
  Striking a moving object 2 11
  Swerving to avoid hazard or collision 4
  Other 4
3
Special Factors Pertaining to Fall  
  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
4
Anatomical Site of Primary Injury 
  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.

http://www.iisa.org/resources/safety.htm
An epidemic of roller-blade injuries in children.
O'Farrell DA1, Ridha HM, Keenan P, McManus FW, Stephens M.
Author information
Abstract
Roller blading is a new and increasingly popular leisure activity in many countries. We reviewed 110
consecutive patients with roller-blade injuries between 1 January and 30 June 1996. The patients
ranged from 4 to 14 years in age (mean 6.5 years). Eighty-three (75.4%) sustained injuries to the
upper limb and 27 (24.5%) injured the lower limb. Fifty-six patients, were girls and 54 were boys. Of
the 110 patients, 79 (72.7%) sustained fractures, 28 (25.4%) soft tissue injuries and 3 (2.7%)
dislocations. Eighty-three (75.4%) of the patients wore no protective equipment on the limbs. Four
months following injury 103 (93.6%) patients were fully recovered. The mean duration of school
absence was 3 days. Subsequently 101 children returned to using roller-blades following injury.
Seventy-three (66.3%) of these now use protective equipment. We found that injuries were unrelated
to age or duration of roller-blading experience or to the brand-name of roller blades used, and that
most of our patients wore no protective equipment at the time of injury.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9764237