Psychological Intervention

When an athlete suffers an injury people do not always think about the emotional and psychological damage that has been done to the athlete. People tend to only think of the physical damage that has been done. While the physical damage done to a player can seem extreme, sometimes the emotional and psychological damage caused by an injury can almost be worse. This is why it is key for an athletic trainer to be able to use psychological intervention.

Athletic trainers must understand how the psyche, especially feeling and emotions, enter into the individual's reaction to injury or illness. They must keep in mind that each individual reacts in their own personal way. And in order to return to play injured athletes must be completely ready psychologically as well as physically. Following and injury an athlete may have problems adjusting socially and may feel left out or forgotten by the rest of the team. This is seen especially with long-term injuries. The athlete may feel as though they have received little support support from coaches and teammates. To the athlete it may seem the coaches have ceased to care about me and that teammates have no time to be with me. If this is the case with an athlete then athletic identification is gone and so is friendship based on athletic identification.  To avoid or limit this from happening the athletic trainer should have a supporting relationship with the athlete (key to successful rehabilitation). The athletic trainer can provide social support to the athlete by being a good listener, finding out what the problem is, being aware of body language, explaining the injury, managing the stress of the injury, and helping he/she return to competition.

There have been so many great athletes that have suffered injuries and some never totally recover. I never really thought that the reason an athlete did not perform as well as they once did could have been because of psychological damage. An athlete's psyche must be as in tune as possible as well as the body. I hope this brings to light the importance of the psychological aspect in rehabilitation and that more people understand how it affects athletes and their performance.

 

Work Cited

Stiller-Ostrowski, Jennifer, Daniel R. Gould, and Tracey Covassin. "An Evaluation of an Educational Intervention in Psychology of Injury for Athletic Training Students." Journal of Athletic Training 44.5 (2009): 482-9. ProQuest. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.