Essay Example on Sports Injuries: A Closer Look at Their Psychological Effects.

One of the leading causes of sports injuries originate from competitive sports. So common are injuries in competitive sports that they have been regarded as a usual occurrence in the field, especially when elite sports are considered. An injury on an athlete has several effects apart from the obvious physical ones, both on the athletes and the people around them. There has however been a rise in the need for research on the psychological effects that injuries have on the affected athletes, with the occurrence of injuries and recovery from them being attributed to psychological reasons (Liberal et al. 2014).

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The research on the psychological effects of injuries to the athletes associated has been a key area of interest in investigation of the Global Psychological Model of the Sportive Injuries (GPMSI), which seeks to find lasting solutions to the psychological problems that injuries bring to the athletes. The objective of this organization is to create awareness on the need for psychological support for the athletes to help them to cope and overcome the physical and mental repercussions of injuries.

Sheinbein (2016) attributes the fear of injury after recovery as one of the leading causes of psychological distress to the injured athletes. Re-injury anxiety is the fear that physical activities and movements involved in the sporting activities will result in further injury on the concerned parties, therefore slowing down their recovery process and affecting their morale when they finally get to return to the sports.

The fear of injuring oneself post-injury is attributed to the reduced levels of confidence in the athletes, with the athletes trying to be too careful not to injure themselves again, leading to a degraded performance from them, further affecting their psychological reactions and faculties. The fear of getting hurt again has also led to athletes giving up entirely on the sports that they undertake, with the concerns of underperformance or getting injured further being cited.

Mental illnesses have also been suffered from the physical injuries that the athletes experience in the fields. Depression and anxiety have been experienced in athletes who suffer injuries, because of the trauma that they experience from the injuries, the fear of re-injury, the anxiety on the financial implications of the injuries, especially on the contractual agreement of the athlete and the team that they represent, with the athletes fearing that they may not recover in time, and maybe cut from the team, leaving them unemployed and financially unstable (Grant, 2018).

Some athletes have opted for coping mechanisms such as drug and substance abuse to help them keep up with the stress and anxiety that they experience, further worsening their mental stability. When the athletes suffer from depression and other related complications, their effectiveness once they are back on the field is reduced, and the reduced performance has a further negative effect on the mental health, creating a cyclic situation.

ACPM et al. (2006) link the athletes' mental stability and psychological determination to overcome injury during rehabilitation to the ability or inability of the athletes to return to sporting activities as generally as they were before. However, the physiotherapists consulted in the rehabilitation process can help the athletes overcome the dangerous reactions that they may experience during rehabilitation by undertaking steps such setting of goals to be achieved in the course of the rehabilitation, use of cognitive restructuring, whereby the athletes are helped to analyze the injuries from a positive angle o help them boost their attitudes towards the injuries and overcome the issues associated with the injuries by building up psychological strength. Rehabilitation may be affected by psychological reactions such as fear, anxiety, and loss of confidence, making the athletes respond slowly to rehabilitation, as well as making them fear not being able to rehabilitate, thus affecting their perspectives and attitudes entirely.

The presence or absence of a support system to help the athletes mentally, physically, and emotionally will determine the success or failure of the individuals in overcoming injury and maintaining or surpassing their previous levels of quality in performance. Therefore, when athletes have support systems to help them cope with the injuries from a physical, mental, and emotional perspective, their recoveries are speedy and effective, without further injuries in the future.

However, when they are isolated and away from others, athletes will experience slower improvements, with the physical injuries they suffered, causing further mental and emotional strain (Johnston and Carroll, 2000). For example, when the athletes are unable to move around as they would before the injury, they feel insufficient and inadequate to make any difference in their lives, and their mentality and attitude become negative, reducing the effects of the rehabilitation on them, as well as increasing the estimated time for recovery.

Denial of the existence of injuries by athletes has been another effect of the injuries on the athletes. Haluska, Abreu, and Fagan (2011) argue that denial of injuries by athletes to the team physicians have been motivated by the athletes' review of the effects that the injuries had on fellow athletes. If the impact were adverse, then the athletes are likely to deny the existence of injuries so that they do not experience the same. Denial has both physical and psychological effects on athletes, in that when they deny having any injuries, they will worsen their injuries, to the extent of destroying their whole careers when the injuries are finally discovered. Again, the denial of injuries causes anxiety and fear in the athletes concerned since they will live in fear of being discovered. Additionally, the athletes will have to turn to drug and substance abuse to help them cope with the pains and discomfort, further worsening the situation for themselves.

Conclusion

Injuries can lead to a change of personality and general attitudes towards life by the athletes who experience them. Gould et al. (2000) argue that when serious injuries occur, they will lead to the individuals who suffer them to develop a change of attitudes, and consequently a change of personalities, both as a coping mechanism, as well as an unconscious reaction to the injuries and the rehabilitation process that follows. When they lack a proper support system, athletes tend to feel helpless.

Their attitudes towards themselves and other matters change for the worse since they find themselves rejecting the help they need to recover, opting to stay in their present situations, mainly for fear of failure and the lack of people to motivate them to carry on. Finally, Scolnik et al. (2018) argue that continued injuries can lead to acceptance of the situation by the athletes, resulting in either being careful not to get further injuries or carelessness in and out of the fields since they assume that despite being careful they will still suffer from the injuries.

This reality has a negative impact on the athletes despite the option they take, since if they decide to be too careful in their activities, then they cannot achieve the levels of excellence that they had previously. At the same time, a reckless lifestyle will lead to athletes suffering from further injuries.

References

American College of Sports Medicine, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, & American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine. (2006).

Psychological issues related to injury in athletes and the team physician: a consensus statement. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 38(11), 2030.

Gould, D., Petlichkoff, L. M., Prentice, B., & Tedeschi, F. (2000). Psychology of sports injuries. Sports Science Exchange Roundtable, 11(2), 1-4.

Grant, T. (2018). The Effect of Psychological Response on Recovery of Sports Injury: A Review of the Literature.

Haluska, C., Abreu, M., & Fagan, J. M. (2011). Athlete Injury Denial: The Psychology of Sports Injuries.

Johnston, L. H., & Carroll, D. (2000). The psychological impact of injury: effects of prior sport and exercise involvement. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 34(6), 436-439.

Liberal, R., Lopez-de-la-llave, A., Perez-Llantada, M. C., & Garcia-Mas, A. (2014). The psychological impact of sports injuries and psychological well-being in relation to sports performance in competition gymnasts. Revista Portuguesa de Ciencias do Desporto, 14(3).

Scolnik, M., Nakamura, Y., Howard, A., Murnaghan, L., & Macpherson, A. (2018). A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE PSYCHOSOCIAL EFFECTS OF INJURY IN FEMALE ATHLETES.

Sheinbein, S. (2016). Psychological effect of injury on the athlete: a recommendation for psychological intervention. AMAA Journal, 29(3), 8-11.