DIAGNOSIS AND CLINICAL ASSESSMENT

1
Psychological Aspects of Sports Injury
2
Statistics

• Estimates of 5-15 million adults and children
  injured each year in sport, exercise and
  recreational settings
• Almost 100 of the 1200 NFL players will have
  some injury during a season

3
How are psychological factors involved in sports
injury?

• Precursors to injury
• Influencing recovery
• Influencing future play

4
Antecedents to injury

• Physical factors
• Physical shape (e.g., fitness level muscle
  imbalances)
• Overtraining
• Poor nutrition
• Fatigue

5
Antecedents to injury

• Behavioral External factors
• Hyper-aggressive participation
• Bill Johnson

6
Antecedents to injury

• Behavioral External factors
• Hyper-aggressive participation
• Playing surface / conditions / equipment
• Opponent (in some sports)
• Situation (e.g., playoffs)

7
Antecedents to injury

• Psychological factors
• Personality (e.g., sensation-seeking, competitive
  trait anxiety)
• Stress
• Studies
• Theory explaining stress-injury relationship
• Psychological skills / coping

8
Stress and injury model
9
Antecedents to injury

• Social factors
• Reinforcement in sport for aggressive (risky?)
  play
• Win-at-all-costs attitude
• Playing with pain (No pain, no gain)

10
Psychological aspects of injury and
rehabilitation

• HOW WILL AN ATHLETE RESPOND TO INJURY AND THE
  REHABILITATION PROCESS?
• Personal factors
• Personality factors (e.g., hardiness)
• History of injury / previous rehab experiences
• Sense of identity as an athlete

11
Psychological aspects of injury and
rehabilitation

• Situational factors
• The nature of the injury itself
• Time in season and playing status
• Accessibility to rehab
• Others around athlete (do they disappear? become
  overattentive?)

12
Psychological aspects of injury and
rehabilitation

• Cognitive appraisal
• Athletes interpret what the injury is going to do
  to them
• What athlete says to him or herself
• Why me?
• Will I ever return to my previous ability
  level?
• Im never going to be able to ...
• What does this injury mean for my
  salary/scholarship/future?
• What is the best way to rehab?
• Will my teammates stick by me?
• Coping style (optimistic vs. pessimistic
  problem-solver)

13
Psychological aspects of injury and
rehabilitation

• Emotional reactions
• Often follow from the cognitive appraisal
• Can run the gamut of emotions
• shock / disbelief
• fear
• self-pity
• anger
• loss of confidence
• depression / grief (Picabo Street video)

14
Picabo Street

• "I went through a huge
• depression," Ms. Street said. "I went all the way
  to rock bottom. I
• never thought that I ever would experience
  anything like that in my life."

15
Picabo Street

• I think it was a combination of the
• atrophying of my legs, the new scars, and feeling
  like a caged animal," Ms. Street said. "I went
  from being a very physical person, a very
  powerful athlete, to barely having any strength
  to get from my room to the kitchen. You're stuck
  and you can't do what you normally do and it
  makes you crazy."

16
Psychological aspects of injury and
rehabilitation

• Behavioral responses
• Adherence to rehab regimen
• Acting tough OR being too fearful
• Returning too quickly to practice / competition
• Drug abuse (e.g., painkillers)
• How athlete deals with setbacks

17
Psychological aspects of injury and
rehabilitation

• Benefits?
• Personal growth / perspective / development of
  identity
• Psychological performance enhancement
• Physical technical improvement

18
Facilitating recovery from injury

• Education
• Goal-setting
• Cognitive-restructuring
• Imagery
• Relaxation / Stress-management
• Staying active with the team / sport
• Social support (e.g., support groups for injured
  athletes)