Psychosocial Intervention for Sport Injuries and Illnesses

1. Psychosocial Intervention for Sport Injuries and Illnesses

2. Psychological Response to injury • Don’t all deal with injury the same • Could be disastrous • Opportunity to show courage • Provide escape from the team losing, discourage or domineering

3. Psychological Response to injury • We have different length of rehab • Short term (less than 4 weeks) • Long term (more than 4 weeks) • Chronic (recurring) • Terminating (career ending) • Despite the length of injury the athlete still has to deal with their emotions during this time

4. Psychological Response to injury • Reactive Phases • Reaction to injury • Reaction to rehabilitation • Reaction to return to competition or career termination • Not all athletes have these reactions and they don’t fall in that sequence

5. Psychological Response to injury • 5 Stages of Psychological Reaction • Denial • Anger • Bargaining • Depression • Acceptance • Other factors that can influence reactions to injury • Coping skills, past history of injury, social support and personality traits

6. Athlete Need for Social Support • They need support from teammates • Helps prevent feelings of negative self-worth or loss of identity • Athletic Trainer • Supportive AT is critical to successful rehabilitation

7. AT’s Role in providing Social Support • 1st to interact with athlete • We care for them as a person not just as part of the team • Must have respect for AT as a person before they can trust the AT • Good communication between both parties • Take an interest in that individual

8. AT’s Role in providing Social Support • Be a good listener • Find out what the problem is • Be aware of body Language • Project a caring image • Explain the injury to the patient • Manage the stress of injury • Help the athlete return to competition

9. Predictors of Injury • Stress and the Risk of Injury • Stress: the positive and negative forces that can disrupt the body’s equilibrium. • Its not something an athlete can do to his or her body, but t is something that the brain tells athlete is happening • Positive stress: eustress… stress that is beneficial • Negative: distress… describes detrimental responses or negative stressors

10. Predictors of Injury • Physical Response to Stress • Fear • Anxiety • Can be acute or chronic • Acute: threat is immediate and response is instantaneous • Chronic: persists over some period of time

11. Predictors of Injury • Emotional Response to Stress • Worries • school, work, family • Coach is usually the first person to notice this type of stress

12. Overtraining • Overtraining • imbalance between a physical load placed on an athlete and his or her coping capacity • Can lead to Staleness and Burnout

13. Staleness • Reason for staleness • training to hard and long • not enough rest time • emotional problems • daily worries, fears and anxieties • Anxiety: a feeling of uncertainty or apprehension • more common mental and emotional stress produces • athlete can not describe the problem • Heart palpitations, shortness of breath, sweaty palms, constricted throat, headaches

14. Staleness • Parents • push to hard • athlete may fail purposely in the sport just to get rid of the stress • Coach • acts like a drill sergeant • negative reinforcements • Losing season can cause staleness as well

15. Staleness • Symptoms • Deterioration in standard performance • chronic fatigue • apathy • loss of appetite • indigestion • weight loss • inability to sleep or rest • higher blood pressure/ increase pulse rate • If they show signs of this, they increase their potential for both acute and overuse injuries and infections

16. Burnout • Syndrome related to physical and emotional exhaustion • leads to: negative self-concept, negative attitudes, loss of concern for the feelings of others • Detrimental to athlete’s general health • Symptoms • headaches • GI disturbances • sleeplessness • chronic fatigue • increase emotional exhaustion • cynicism • depressed mood