According to an article in the Washington Post, published on June 19, 2006, basketball results in more injuries than any other sport. While football and soccer may have more physical contact, basketball results in more injuries that require a trip to the emergency room.

Based on data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Pietro Tonino, an orthopedist at the Loyola University School of Medicine, found that basketball, bicycling, football and soccer were the big four in sports-related injuries. In 2005 there were more than 500,000 basketball injuries, 485,000 bicycling injuries, 418,000 football injuries and almost 175,000 injuries from soccer.

Tonino found that the least hazardous were golf (47,000 ER visits), roller- skating (35,000), wrestling (34,000), tennis (19,000) and track and field (17,000). Skateboarding (112,000 emergency visits), trampolines (108,000) and horseback riding (73,000) were relatively hazardous, given the smaller number of people involved.

Because Tonino focused on ER visits, he did not take into account the thousands of chronically sore knees, elbows and ankles that can afflict athletes long after they leave the field.

The most recent CPSC statistics for fireworks injuries are from 2004, which had 9,600 reported injuries. Approximately sixty percent of these injuries we due to children stepping on hot sparkler wires. "These injuries can easily be prevented by dousing hot sparkler wires in a bottle or pail of water before being discarded", said Dr. John Steinberg. Dr. Steinberg added, "fireworks actually have a better safety rating than most sports and outdoor activities".

These statistics are even more remarkable in the light that fireworks usage has been increasing steadily in the United States over the past 15 years. When injury rates are compared to the number of tons of fireworks being imported into the United States each year, the incidence rate per ton has been falling. Dr. Steinberg speculated that the decline in injury rates is most likely due to better quality control, combined with better safety information and formalized fireworks training programs.