Counting the cost of Canterbury's sporting injuries

Photo: File image / Getty

In Canterbury, more than 54,000 sporting injuries have been referred to ACC this year. Sports reporter Sam Coughlan breaks down the data.

If you are a regular gym-goer, the latest numbers released by ACC show you’re in the second-highest group in Canterbury for suffering injuries while taking part in your chosen fitness activity.

Unsurprisingly, rugby union players continue to top the injury chart.

The data shows 5551 injuries between January 1 and October 31 this year as a result of gym work, costing taxpayers $6.7 million with the ACC claims.

For the same period last year, that figure was 5770 ($5.9m), five years ago it was 4551 ($3.6m) and in 2014 it was 4126 ($2.4m).

Ian Gilmour, a personal trainer at Wigram Culture Fitness, believes the numbers may be inflated by people attributing workplace or home injuries to the gym, or injuries only flaring up later on.

"I’d say the gym has been the least commonplace I have seen injuries actually taking place,” he said.

"In my four years as a personal trainer, I’ve seen very little injury actually occurring at the various gyms I’ve worked at.

"Perhaps a lot of those injuries may be what people would call referred injuries.

"In other words, they’ve woken up the next morning and discovered they’ve got an injury and have attributed it to what they did at the gym.”

The number of mountain biking injuries referred to ACC in Canterbury has declined over recent years. PHOTO: CHRISTCHURCH ADVENTURE PARK

He said the increase in the number of reported injuries was likely due to more people going to the gym.

"There’s a lot of people who are using gyms these days.

"People are perhaps more exercise-oriented than they were before, say, Covid, so I’d say that would have an impact.”

Gilmour suggested a few ways for people to take care of their bodies at the gym.

"Make sure you’re taking the advice of people who work in the area, because otherwise (you’re) just going with best guess.

"Hydration is pretty important, and sleep, believe it or not.

"You’ve got to make sure that the body gets rest, so don’t overextend what you’re doing,” he said.

"Rest days are pretty important. There are some people who think they need to train every day and that’s not a healthy way of going about it.”

Rugby union has seen 7435 injuries this year in Canterbury, costing ACC more than $17m, the highest of any sport in both categories.

That number is down from a peak of more than 8400 injuries ($10m) 10 years ago, but an increase on the 6911 ($15.5m) reported in 2022.

Gym work was the second-highest cause of sporting injuries in Canterbury this year. PHOTO: GETTY

Cycling was the second most-expensive sport up until October, costing ACC $10.96m – the ninth year in a row it has taken second place.

Last year, cycling injuries cost more than $12m over the same period, while it was $6.6m five years ago.

Football saw the third-highest number of injuries with 4516, costing ACC $7.9m.

That figure has largely stayed the same despite rising numbers of players in the sport, with 4180 injuries ($3.7m) reported in 2014, 4202 ($4.9m) in 2019, and 4478 ($7.4m) last year.

Mountain biking is one of ACC’s summer focuses for injury prevention, despite the number of new claims declining from 1057 in 2021 to 581 this year.

The average cost per injury has increased from $1855 in 2021 to $2445 in 2023.

ACC injury prevention leader James Whitaker is encouraging riders to think before taking risks.

“We want New Zealanders to enjoy their time in the outdoors, but we are also challenging them to have a moment to have a ‘hmmm’ before they get stuck in,” he said.

“If we have a ‘hmmm’ and think about the smart way to do things, we are reducing the risk of injury.”

In total, more than 54,000 injuries referred to ACC cited sports as the cause – 33,476 of them by men and 20,640 by women – a decrease on last year, which saw more than 57,000 injury referrals – 35,695 by men and 21,725 by women.

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