How common are injuries in bodybuilding training?

Short answer

Rare. Competitive bodybuilders had 0.24-1 injuries per 1,000 hours of training, the lowest of the strength sports and far below pro soccer (8.1). Counting even minor pain, 22% got hurt over 9 months, and serious injuries clustered around dropped weights and steroid use.

How common are injuries in bodybuilding training?
'Heavy iron = an injury-prone sport' — is that right?
Bodybuilding, with heavy weights lifted almost every day, looks like a sport full of injuries. We compared its real injury rate with other sports in numbers, and checked where and why people get hurt.
Asking 71 competitors
About one injury every 8 years per person
A survey of 71 competitive bodybuilders found 0.12 injuries per person per year, or 0.24 per 1,000 hours of training. That is about one injury every 8 years per person. Still, 45.1% had pain while training, mostly pain that did not stop them from training.
Compared with other strength sports
Bodybuilding was the lowest
An analysis that pooled 20 injury studies across strength sports found bodybuilding had the lowest rate: 0.24-1 injuries per 1,000 hours. Strongman had 4.5-6.1. Another analysis of 9 studies found 2.4-3.3 for Olympic weightlifting and 1.0-4.4 for powerlifting.
Compared with soccer
Pro soccer: 8.1 per 1,000 hours
An analysis that pooled 44 studies found 8.1 injuries per 1,000 hours in professional soccer. In matches it was 36, about 10 times the training rate (3.7). Compared with bodybuilding (0.24-1), that is 8-34 times higher.
Counting even minor pain
22% got hurt over 9 months
381 people who lift weights were tracked every 2 weeks for 9 months. Counting even minor pain that never needed a doctor, 22% got hurt, at 1.86 injuries per 1,000 hours of training. The lower back led with 24%, then shoulder and neck at 20%, and knees at 17%.
ER injuries were mostly accidents
Dropped weights: 65.5%
Among 25,335 weight-training injuries seen in US emergency rooms from 1990 to 2007, 65.5% came from weights dropping on the body. The most common diagnosis was a sprain or strain, at 46.1%. Free-weight injuries were fractures or dislocations 23.6% of the time, more than 2 times the rate for machines (9.7%).
What raised the risk
Past injury: 3.74 times; steroids: 9 times the tendon ruptures
In the 381-person study, a past injury raised injury risk 3.74 times, and having a training partner lowered it by 70%. Among 142 bodybuilders, 22% of the 88 who used steroids for 2+ years had torn a tendon, versus 6% of the 54 who never used them, and the risk of a first tear was 9 times higher.
Bottom line: bodybuilding is a low-injury sport
Minor pain is common; serious injuries come from accidents and drugs
Competitive bodybuilders had 0.24-1 injuries per 1,000 hours, the lowest of the strength sports and far below pro soccer (8.1). Counting minor pain, 22% got hurt over 9 months, mostly the lower back, shoulders, and knees. ER injuries were mostly dropped weights, and tendon tears were 9 times as common in steroid users.