What the research says about figure skating injury risk
A 2025 systematic review pooled 29 studies covering 4,202 figure skaters. Reported injury prevalence ranged 2.1%–34%, with one study reporting an incidence of about 1.37 injuries per 1,000 training hours.Epidemiology and associated injury risk factors in figure skating: A systematic review (J Sci Med Sport, 2025) ↗
The same review identified concrete risk factors. Intrinsic: older age, a prior history of stress fracture, higher body mass. Extrinsic: training more than 12 sessions/week, skipping meals, RED-S indicators, tight hamstrings/quads, more on-ice time, and boot-to-foot length mismatch.Epidemiology and associated injury risk factors in figure skating: A systematic review (J Sci Med Sport, 2025) ↗
The lower back and knees are the two most common injury sites in figure skating, accounting for roughly 34% and 26% of injuries respectively. Ankles, hips, and repetitive-use sites round out the rest.Common Injuries in Figure Skating (PASIG / orthopt.org, 2020) ↗
Ankle sprains are reported to occur more often during off-ice (dry-land) training than on-ice. The likely cause: skaters spend hours a day in stiff, ankle-immobilizing skate boots, leaving the ankle comparatively weak and underprepared for unsupported off-ice landings and pivots.Epidemiology of Figure Skating Injuries: A Review of the Literature (PubMed, 2018) ↗
Broader ice/inline/roller skating injury data (not figure-skating-specific, but a real ED-visit dataset) is tracked by NEISS, the CDC’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System.NEISS — National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (CDC) ↗
Given that skate boots keep the ankle rigid for hours a day and off-ice ankle sprains are correspondingly common, targeted ankle strengthening matters — and ballet-style training is a specifically supported way to build it. A controlled study of ballet dancers found that 6 weeks of integrated plyometric, proprioception, and core-stability training significantly reduced ankle joint reposition error — a direct measure of the ankle’s ability to sense its own position and self-correct, which is exactly what prevents a rolled ankle on an unsupported landing.Effect of Integrated Training on Balance and Ankle Reposition Sense in Ballet Dancers (PMC, 2021) ↗