Injuries are an experience that, sooner or later, all athletes go through.
However, these physical conditions can sometimes become a big problem if they occur repeatedly or if they affect other aspects of our game. That is why we often look for psychological counseling when overcoming injuries But, in what way can our mental resources intervene in our physical integrity?
On the one hand, there are aspects of our personality that may imply a certain predisposition to suffer sports injuries, that is, There are individual differences between each athlete that make them “more or less psychologically vulnerable to injury.”
For example, a person with a responsible coping style (one who focuses on aspects of their life that are under their control, such as their ability or training) will tend to be injured less frequently than someone with a responsible coping style. victim coping (that is, one that usually focuses on external elements such as the state of the grass, the toughness of the rival, etc.).
The importance of stress
On the other hand, the psychological phenomenon that has been most related to the probability of injury in an athlete is stress.
Stress is an adaptive response designed to overcome moments of maximum environmental demand. It is a psychological resource that finds its use in providing us with excess energy that was used to flee or confront a threat, and given its great usefulness, it has been transmitted to us generation after generation. However, sometimes our body gives this response to non-life-threatening situations, such as an exam, a job interview, or an important game.
In this way, stress has certain useful consequences against rival tribes or saber-toothed tigers, but not so adaptive in a soccer match.
On one side, our attentional processes narrow which allows us to focus absolutely on the threatening and priority stimulus, but prevents us from generating the broad attention that most sports require.
On the other hand, our muscle tone can be affected , leaving our physique in non-optimal conditions to carry out the corresponding action and, therefore, more vulnerable to suffering an injury. Thus, adequate stress management is a priority in sports if we want to prevent injuries.
Psychologically manage the effects of the injury
Any sport involves the competition component and, therefore, all sports involve pressure (even more so if we talk about high-performance sports). Thus, the secret is not in reducing pressure or combating it, but in learning to manage it.
Among the techniques aimed at stress management, we could highlight two:
1. Cognitive restructuring
Oriented to transform irrational beliefs into others more adaptive to the context For example, the belief “we are a bad team” can cause added stress, being logically refutable (“we have had bad results, but we are working to improve”). Beliefs establish our world and determine our behaviors, which is why it is a basic pillar to work on in sports psychology and injury prevention.
2. Relaxation techniques
Once we detect the optimal level of activation of our athlete, that is, the level of physiological activation at which they tend to perform best, we must train them in relaxation techniques aimed at reducing said activation when it exceeds said level. Controlled breathing, muscle relaxation and other similar resources can be a good choice when it comes to combating this physiological anxiety.
Regarding the rehabilitation period the most notable psychological variables occur at the emotional level.
Motivation is a key factor in relation to adherence to treatment, and to maintain its highest levels, it is usually resorted to the establishment of short-term objectives, the fulfillment of which is expected to generate a perception of self-efficacy in the athlete that in turn promotes their motivation for the exercises to be performed, both physically and psychologically. Besides, emotional intelligence training It can also be a good solution.
On the other hand, all these techniques can be extrapolated to many other contexts of the sporting and personal life of each player, so this fact can serve to focus the period of inactivity as another learning experience, and since we will all get injured sooner or later, we can turn this obstacle into an opportunity if we manage it properly.
