IT is not uncommon for us to hear or experience first-hand the occurrence of sport-related injuries in athletes. Indeed, many argue that injury is part and parcel of playing sports and the longer you participate in a sport the higher the risk of injury exposure. In fact, most elite athletes would have experienced at least one long-term injury throughout their playing career.
According to Micheo and Sanchez (2018), “sport injury is defined as a pathologic process that interrupts training or competition and may lead the athlete to seek medical treatment.” The duration of this “interruption,” is of course predicated on the severity of the injury. For example, an athlete who sprains their ankle may progress more quickly and return to play compared to an athlete who broke a bone, granted the two have access to the same diagnosis and rehabilitation services.
But quite often when discussing injury or the impact of an injury on an athlete, most if not all of us, speak solely from a physical/biological perspective. That is, what is the injury? How long is the rehabilitation process? What is required (physio, surgery, injections etc)? And, how soon can the athlete return to play? etc.
It is crucial, however, for us to bring another perspective to the table…indeed one that has a great influence over the effectiveness and efficiency of physical rehabilitation and ultimately an athlete’s return to play…that is the psychological impact of an injury.
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From the moment an injury occurs there is a psychological response from the athlete. These responses can be both normal and/or problematic and are often affected by biological, sociocultural, and stress antecedents, as well as the emotional response at the onset of the injury. Simply put, what an athlete is experiencing physically and mentally before an injury will influence his or her emotional response when the injury actually happens. This can lead to the athlete having either a normal emotional response or a problematic emotional response.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine (2006), the most common emotional responses to injury are sadness, isolation, irritation, lack of motivation, anger, frustration, changes in appetite, sleep disturbance and disengagement. Should these initial responses be left unsupported, however, or without any psychological care from a trained practitioner they can worsen. Should these responses become more severe they can ultimately hinder an athlete’s physical recovery, adherence to rehabilitation and potentially risk their return to play.
Some problematic responses to an injury can include alterations of appetite leading to eating disorders, sleep disturbance, irritability, sadness leading to depression, lack of motivation leading to apathy, disengagement leading to alienation, pain behaviours, excessive anger or rage, frequent crying or emotional outbursts and substance abuse (American College of Sports Medicine, 2006).
As a practitioner within
