The psychology of sport It is not only concerned with the performance of an athlete while he is active; It is also present during sports injury. In recent years, due to the professionalization of some sports, the number of studies published about this area has grown.
This has focused attention both on the prevention of injuries and on their treatment and readaptation to sport once these breaks have occurred. Specifically, Stress management is very important to help performance not decline
Psychological intervention in cases of sports injury
We find two moments in sports injury; one that is prior to the injury and corresponds to a prevention phase, and a second moment that would occur after the injury in which rehabilitation would enter. It is important to take this into account because regarding the intervention, the objectives that will be addressed are different.
In the first, the Sports Psychologist is in charge of training psychological resources, seeking an optimal level of muscular tension, a reduction in stress, correct attentional control and the improvement of coping resources in order to avoid the feared injury.
In the post-injury or rehabilitation phase, the objectives vary depending on whether the injury is more or less recent; In the immobilization phase the objective will be to give the athlete strategies to control anxiety and accept reality. To achieve this, it is common for the Sports Psychologist to train communication skills and relaxation techniques, in addition to ensuring a therapeutic commitment.
In the mobilization phase The objective will be to carry out a correct recovery, readaptation and return to competition working on communication skills, relaxation techniques and mental images and anxiety control, with social support being of vital importance.
The causes
Numerous studies agree on the existence of two categories to which an injury may be due
Extrinsic factors would be those factors of an environmental nature. They refer to the equipment, the environment where the activity is practiced, the duration of the training and the failures in physical preparation. The second are the intrinsic factors that have their nature in the personal characteristics of the athlete. They include age, sex, physical constitution, previous medical history, physical condition, ability and psychological state.
As for the latter, unfortunately, It is common for it to worsen depending on the severity of the injury and the estimated time for recovery Therefore, when the athlete has achieved full recovery, when faced with normal activity again, he often finds that what previously seemed like an ambitious challenge now causes stress.
Injuries and stress in sports
If we review the literature we find that Andersen and Williams (1988) devised a model in which it was proposed that the stress response was the result of a two-way relationship between the athlete’s cognitive appraisals of a potentially stressful external situation (environmental factors), and the physiological and attentional aspects of stress (intrinsic factors), where both these cognitive appraisals and the physiological and attentional responses to stress are constantly changing.
With this model, an attempt has also been made to explain the relationship between psychological factors and vulnerability to injury, including their sports history, but also the emotional reactions of the injured athlete. Thanks to this, it has been possible to carry out psychological intervention for injury prevention or sports rehabilitation and readaptation of the injured athlete.
The role of anxiety in sports performance
In this interaction between psychology-injury-psychology, some of the relevant variables in the competitive field are anxiety and the athlete’s state of mind. Numerous studies have been carried out in almost all sports modalities about pre-competitive anxiety and the state of mind in which athletes find themselves before competing. It has been shown that This does not affect all athletes equally
Factors that influence stress
There are a series of conditions in which stress and fear of failure worsen. The age of athletes influences the appearance of stress, with the youngest (10 to 19 years old) and the oldest (40 and older) being more likely to suffer from stress.
It should also be noted that this stress condition It would not equally affect those who practice physical activity for leisure and those who dedicate themselves to competition
Psychological interventions after an injury improve the athlete’s well-being during rehabilitation. Controlling his emotional responses in this unfavorable situation will allow for a better and faster recovery whose main objective is effective sports readaptation.
Podlog et al. (2011) found that The most frequent variables that act against the athlete are: anxiety about a relapse, fear of not returning to previous performance, feelings of isolation, lack of identification with one’s sporting practice, insufficient social support from outside or within the sporting field, and excess pressure that causes negative feelings such as fear. , anger, sadness.
Therefore, in order to work towards the psychological preparation behind an injury, it is important to assess:
Intervening on anxiety
Psychological interventions such as relaxation, mental images, correct support from the technical team (coach and teammates), determination of objectives (clear, evaluable and progressive), promote family social support directly or indirectly partner and friends, are essential to carry out stress management training.
Nor should you forget such important aspects as reinforcing your belonging to the sport you are practicing, reducing pressure and improving your self-confidence. (Palmi, 2001; Podlog et al., 2011).
Intervention may also need to focus on modifying beliefs and attitudes to prevent future injuries. It is not strange that during training the athlete’s own self-perception has been altered and this has generated distorted beliefs about his new physical condition.
Thoughts like “as soon as they touch me a little, I’ll get injured again” leave a bad feeling in the athlete and this can have consequences in the execution of a subsequent training or competition.
Support and reinforcement program
As has been mentioned, family support along with a good reinforcement program It can help improve the self-esteem of the injured athlete and help him/her feel capable of resuming his/her sporting life.
They are those moments that one does not question when an athletic and sporting life lies ahead. But when it happens you have to accept it and take it as a new challenge. One more training.
