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Injuries from winter sports and activities Published: ()
Winter in Canada provides favourable weather conditions for outdoor sports and recreational activities, including skiing, snowboarding, ice skating and sledding. While there are numerous health benefits resulting from these sports and activities, there are also risks of serious injuries.reference1-3 These risks highlight the importance of personal safety, such as wearing appropriate clothing and safety equipment, and ensuring your gear is in good condition. For more information on winter safety tips, please visit the following sites:
This data blog presents injury statistics on popular winter sports and activities captured in the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP) between October 1, 2016 and January 11, 2024. CHIRPP is a sentinel surveillance system capturing injuries and poisonings presenting in 20 emergency departments across Canada. Every year, approximately 170,000 injury and poisoning records are entered in the database, from which information on the circumstances, types and emergency department outcomes of injuries can be examined. In this data blog, records with injuries related to sledding/tobogganing, ice skating, alpine skiing and snowboarding were examined.
Ice skating:
Overall
Between October 1, 2016 and January 11, 2024 there were 4,715 ice skating-related injuries reported in the CHIRPP database, representing 599.1 cases per 100,000 CHIRPP records. Of these injuries, the mean age among patients was 15.0 years and females represented the largest percentage at 64.8%. Among children, those aged 10 to 14 years represented 43.1% of all cases (Table 1). Where reported, over one third of those injured (35.0%; n = 1,649) stated that they were wearing safety equipment when the injury occurred.reference1
Table 1. Demographic characteristics of ice skating-related cases in CHIRPP, October 1, 2016 to January 11, 2024.
| Characteristics | Count | Proportion (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sex | Male | 1,660 | 35.2 |
| Female | 3,504 | 64.8 | |
| Age group (years) | 0 to 1 | 5 | 0.1 |
| 2 to 4 | 180 | 3.8 | |
| 5 to 9 | 1,410 | 29.9 | |
| 10 to 14 | 2,031 | 43.1 | |
| 15 to 19 | 559 | 11.9 | |
| 20 to 29 | 96 | 2.0 | |
| 30 to 39 | 103 | 2.2 | |
| 40 to 49 | 91 | 1.9 | |
| 50 + | 240 | 5.1 | |
Note: One reported case was missing information on the sex of the patient.
Type of injury
Shown below in Table 2 are the types of ice skating-related injuries. Representing over a third of all injuries and the largest percentage (34.9%; n =1,646) were fractures. Following this category were superficial/open wounds (18.5%), soft tissue injuries (14.4%) and traumatic brain injuries (14.1%). Table 3 provides a percentage breakdown of the body regions where the fractures occurred. As shown, the upper extremity region represented a high percentage of fractures at 70.5%. Among this region, wrist and forearm fractures had the highest count. With respect to the lower extremity region, the lower leg and ankle represented the largest numbers in this category.
Table 2. Type of injury from ice skating-related cases in CHIRPP, October 1, 2016 to January 11, 2024.
| Type of injury | Count | Proportion (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fractures | 1,646 | 34.9 | |
| Superficial/Open wound | 873 | 18.5 | |
| Soft tissue injury | 678 | 14.4 | |
| Traumatic brain injuries | All traumatic brain injuries | 663 | 14.1 |
| Concussion | 388 | - | |
| Minor head injury | 269 | - | |
| Intracranial injury | 6 | - | |
| Dislocation/Sprain/Strain/Pulled elbow | 594 | 12.6 | |
| Injury to nerve/vessel/tendon | 41 | 0.9 | |
| Dental injury | 39 | 0.9 | |
| Other | 64 | 1.4 | |
| Not specified | 116 | 2.5 | |
Note: One reported case was missing information on the type of injury.
Table 3. Fractures by body regions among ice skating-related cases in CHIRPP, October 1, 2016 to January 11, 2024.
| Body region | Body part | Count | Proportion (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upper extremities | All upper extemities fractures | 1,160 | 70.5 |
| Wrist | 550 | - | |
| Forearm | 352 | - | |
| Elbow | 137 | - | |
| Upper arm | 52 | - | |
| Finger or thumb | 46 | - | |
| Hand | 23 | - | |
| Lower extremities | All lower extremities fractures | 372 | 22.6 |
| Lower leg | 185 | - | |
| Ankle | 133 | - | |
| Foot | 17 | - | |
| Knee | 15 | - | |
| Hip | 13 | - | |
| Thigh | 8 | - | |
| Toe | 1 | - | |
| Trunk | All trunk fractures | 101 | 6.1 |
| Clavicle | 50 | - | |
| Shoulder | 29 | - | |
| Sacrum and Coccyx | 11 | - | |
| Thorax | 6 | - | |
| Pelvis | 3 | - | |
| Thoracic spine | 1 | - | |
| Lumbar spine | 1 | - | |
| Head and Neck | All head and neck fractures | 13 | 0.8 |
| Face | 8 | - | |
| Head | 3 | - | |
| Internal mouth | 2 | - |
Event circumstances associated with fractures
Table 4 shows the event circumstances associated with the reported fractures. More specifically, a 30% random sample (n = 494) of all fractures showed that falls represented the highest percentage of cases at 85.4%, reflecting the nature of this activity. The second and third most common circumstances were individuals coming into contact with a stationary object/structure at 7.1% and individuals attempting a maneuver while skating and subsequently falling or landing poorly at 4.5% (jump, axel, twist).
Table 4. Event circumstances associated with fractures from ice skating-related cases in CHIRPP (30% sample), October 1, 2016 to January 11, 2024.
| Mechanism | Count | Proportion (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Fell while skating | 422 | 85.4 |
| Hit stationary object/structure while skating | 35 | 7.1 |
| Attempted a maneuver (jump, axel, twist) and subsequently fell or landed poorly | 22 | 4.5 |
| Came into contact with person | 12 | 2.4 |
| Not specified | 3 | 0.6 |
Emergency department outcomes
Table 5 provides a breakdown of the emergency department outcomes from the ice skating injuries. Of the 4,715 records, the majority of patients required treatments in the emergency departments (67.6%). There were 99 hospital admissions resulting from ice skating injuries, and of those, 82.5% were associated with fractures and 11.3%, with traumatic brain injuries.
Table 5. Emergency department outcomes - ice skating-related cases in CHIRPP, October 1, 2016 to January 11, 2024.
| Emergency department outcomes | Count | Proportion (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment required at emergency department | 3,187 | 67.6 |
| Left without being seen by physician or advice only provided | 1,179 | 25.0 |
| Observation in emergency department | 250 | 5.3 |
| Admitted to hospital | 99 | 2.1 |
Limitations:
It is important to note that injury estimates arising from CHIRPP are not representative of the national population. Injuries involving older teenagers, adults, First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and those who live in rural and remote areas may also be underrepresented in CHIRPP. Lastly, CHIRPP does not capture fatal injuries occurring outside of emergency departments, nor injuries that are mild in nature and for which treatments are carried out in other medical settings, including medical clinics.
If skating on frozen lake, pond or river: