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Pediatric Rehabilitation

Trends in Pediatric Ice Skating Injuries Presenting to Emergency Departments in the United States

Thursday, October 23, 2025
3:45 PM - 5:00 PM MT
Location: Session Room - 250 DEF

    Primary Author(s)

  • Milan B. Oxspring, MD

    Resident Physician
    Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science (Rochester) PM&R Program
    Rochester, Minnesota

    • Co-Author(s)

  • TS

    Tyra Swanson, MD

    Resident Physician
    Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science (Rochester) PM&R Program
    Rochester, Minnesota

  • Luke Radel, MD

    Physician
    Mayo Clinic
    Rochester, Minnesota

Disclosure(s):
Milan B. Oxspring, MD: No financial relationships to disclose
Luke Radel, MD: No financial relationships to disclose
Background and/or Objectives: Ice skating is a popular activity among children and adolescents in both recreational and competitive settings. Despite its popularity, limited epidemiological research exists on pediatric ice skating injuries. This study aims to characterize injury patterns in this population, focusing on seasonal trends, age and sex distributions, and commonly injured body parts.

Design: Retrospective multi-year cross-sectional study

Setting : U.S. emergency department visits recorded by the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) from 2014-2023

Participants : Children aged 5-18 years with ice skating-related injuries treated in the emergency room

Interventions: Not applicable

Main Outcome Measures: Injury frequency by month, age, sex, and body region. Seasonal timing, sex-specific age trends, and distribution of injuries by anatomic location were analyzed descriptively to identify population-level patterns.

Results: A total of 3,117 pediatric ice skating injuries were identified. Injuries occurred most frequently during winter months, with 70.6% occurring from November – February. Age distribution followed a prominent unimodal distribution peaking at age 13. While 54.0% of all injuries occurred in females, males were responsible for more injuries before age 11 (50.9%), after which, females had a clear predominance (56.7%). Injuries to the head (21.5%) and face (14.9%) were most common, and frequently occurred in ages 5-11. The next most common injuries were to the ankle (12.3%), wrist (11.0%), lower leg (8.3%), and knee (6.0%) and frequently occurred in ages 10-13.

Conclusions: Pediatric ice skating injuries predictably demonstrated clear seasonal patterns, with the highest incidence occurring during winter months. Injury patterns vary by age and sex, with younger children, particularly boys, more prone to head and facial injuries, while older girls show a higher incidence of musculoskeletal extremity injuries. These trends underscore the need for tailored prevention strategies, including safety education and protective equipment suited to age and sex-specific risks. Further investigation may help understand the effect of pubertal development and athletic competition on these injury trends.