If you were asked what the most dangerous sport is, you would perhaps think of climbing, motocross or off-piste skiing. Hardly at Thursday evening football with colleagues. Yet it is precisely there that a large part of the work of the Italian emergency rooms is concentrated.
The numbers that debunk the myths
According to the most cited estimates, in Italy around 300,000 people a year show up in the emergency room for an injury sustained while playing sport. In 46% of cases they were playing football or five-a-side football, while no other discipline exceeds 8%. To give a point of comparison, accidents related to winter sports (skiing, snowboarding and ski mountaineering) stop at 30,000-35,000 per year.
In the vast majority of cases it is nothing serious: 70% of cases are classified as code white and there are around 15,000 hospitalisations. But behind those numbers there are sprains, torn ligaments, inflamed tendons and weeks of downtime. A significant detail: the average age of those injured is 21, but the share of those over 50 is growing rapidly.
The “weekend warrior” syndrome and the padel boom
Football is the most practiced sport in Italy, and it is physiological that it produces more injuries. But the central problem is as you play. The typical profile of the orthopedic patient is not the competitive athlete followed by a staff, but the weekend warrior: the weekend warrior who doesn’t train from Monday to Friday and on Saturday demands from his body the performance of twenty years before.
The same pattern is repeated today with padel, which has conquered over one and a half million Italians. This is confirmed by the experience of specialists such as Corrado Bertolo, orthopedic surgeon of Humanitas and team doctor of Torino FC, who sees both sides of sport every day: the professionals followed to the millimeter and the amateurs who arrive at the clinic after the match on Saturday.
In padel, a review of studies estimates around 3 injuries every thousand hours of play, with an increase in trauma concentrated between the ages of 35 and 55. Overhead hits, sprints and sudden changes in direction put a strain on your knees, Achilles tendons, elbows and shoulders. It’s not padel that is dangerous in itself, but the widespread belief that taking to the court in the cold does not involve risks because “it’s just a game anyway”.
The illusion of risk
If the data is so clear, why do we fear the wrong sport? Our brains evaluate dangers based on how easily extreme examples come to mind.
Psychologists call it availability heuristic: an off-piste accident remains imprinted in the memory, a thousand twisted ankles on a suburban field does not.
The good news is that amateur injuries are the easiest to prevent. Knowing your body, dedicating time to warming up and gradually preparing for the effort makes the difference between a game with friends and a month on crutches.
The meeting is open to the public
We will talk about all this on November 18th in Turin with Corrado Bertolo, knee surgeon expert in ligament, meniscal and cartilaginous surgery, particularly in the sports field. Doctor of Humanitas, he has been part of the medical staff of Torino FC since 2014 and since 2020 he has been the orthopedic contact person and club doctor for the first team. Every day he sees the two sides of sport: the professionals followed to the millimeter and the amateurs who arrive at the clinic after the Saturday match.
The meeting “Whoever risks the most is not who you think” is the second event of the cycle that Evidence Network organizes with Area
When and where: Wednesday 18 November 2026, 6.30 pm, Area X, via San Francesco d’Assisi 12, Turin. Free entry upon reservation: areax.madeticket.it.
Next appointments: Wednesday 9 December, «Digital traps. How your brain betrays you online (and what to do)» with Paolo Attivissimo; Wednesday 20 January 2027, «Are you more pessimistic than reality?» with Giacomo Moro Mauretto.
