Let’s face it, most sports can and do lead to injury. Physical activity doesn’t come without some amount of risk. It’s not just extreme sports like BASE jumping or sky diving that can end with broken bones or other injuries – in fact, football is one of the most dangerous sports in terms of the likelihood of injury. But whilst injuries are ridiculously common in popular sports like football and tennis, they are rarely life-threatening…

Motorsports

Add an engine into the equation, however, and the danger-factor multiplies; Motorsports are a high-risk game, and motorcycle sports are the most dangerous of all. Just consider the fact there have been over 200 deaths at the Isle of Man TT race over the last 100 years. Adding an extra pair of wheels doesn’t guarantee safety by any means, though; there have been 117 fatalities at Le Mans to date, plus 74 at Monza, 63 at the Nurburgring and many more at other famous racing circuits.

Horse-Riding

Horse-riding may seem somewhat more gentile, but it also comes with serious risks.  Horses are by nature unpredictable animals, and given their size and the speeds they can reach (the fastest horses can reach 55 mph!), the potential for injury is very real. In 2009, the Medical Journal of Australia published a study claiming that the dangers faced by jockeys are worse than those faced by boxers. In a 4 year period in Australia, 861 jockeys were seriously injured, and 5 were killed.

Skateboarding

Figures suggest that skateboarding has one of the highest injury-rates of any sport, with around 2% of participants ending up in hospital. Professional competitions tend to be run pretty safely, but a quick visit to YouTube will confirm there’s never a shortage of fearless amateurs attempting ridiculous jumps and tricks that all too often end with a romantic encounter with some concrete.

Is Avoiding Danger The Way Forward?

Frankly, if you’re not keen on danger, you should probably also make a point of avoiding skiing, snowboarding, cycling, climbing, caving and cricket. In fact, if you don’t think you could cope with a black eye, a pulled muscle, a snapped limb, or gory flesh wound, you might be better of without sport altogether. Then again, the risks of not leading an active lifestyle are pretty serious too – heart disease really isn’t much fun. And the people who live to take risks would argue that you’re not really living unless you stare into the void every once in a while.

We’ll let you make up your own mind.

Many thanks to CK Claims for providing this article on dangerous sports.