Psychology of Injury Flashcards
What is Injury?
Defined as trauma to the body or its part that results in at least temporary (but sometimes permanent) physical disability and inhibition of motor function.
What is Multifaced injury?
An individual participating while still feeling pain so mental attention is needed de to the pain.
A loss of or change in function of performance capabilities due to the pain or injury
A decision process about whether to continue participation while experiencing the pain or injury
What are the causes of athletic injury?
-Physical factors
-Social factors
- Psychological Factors
- Personality Factors
-Stress levels
What are physical factors of injury ?
Muscle imbalance, high speed collisions, overtraining, and physical fatigue are the PRIMARY CAUSES of exercise and sport injuries
What are social factors injuires?
Attitudes and norms
- Perception by performers that playing with pain and injury is seen as highly valued in our society
What are psychological factors of injury?
Personality factors , a history of stressors, coping , and an athletes psychological skills influence the onset of injuries.
- The relationship between athletic injuries and psychological factors CENTERS ON STRESS
Psychological factors also play a key role in injury rehabilitation.
What is the relationship between stress and injury ?
- A potentially stressful athletic situation can contribute to injury if athlete perceives the situation to
be threatening increasing state anxiety decreases concentration/ increases muscle tension
increase chance of injury - Athletes w/ higher life stress experience more injuries than those w/ lower life stress:
- 85% of studies verify this relationship
- Most studies link negative life event stress w/ injuries
- BUT positive life events (e.g., receiving a scholarship) can also cause stress and
increase injuries - Athletes at high risk of being injured had fewer injuries after stress management training
interventions than those who did not take part in training interventions - Teaching stress management techniques may help athletes and exercisers
reduce their risk of injury and illness
What are personality factor injuries ?
One of the first psychological factors to be associated with athletic injury
To date , a direct link between personality factors and athletes injuries has not been consistently shown
What are stress level injuries?
People with high level of life stress have more sport and exercise related injuries
What are the common sources of stress for athletes when injured ?
- Psychological reactions – fear of reinjury, watching others perform, shattered
dreams - Greatest source of stress for injured athletes (more so than the physical aspects)
- Social concerns – lack of attention, isolation, negative relationships
- Physical problems – pain, physical inactivity
- Medical treatment – uncertainty, seriousness of diagnosis
- Rehabilitation difficulties – dealing w/ slow progress, rehabbing on their own
What is attentional disruption ?
View that stress disrupts an athletes attention by reducing peripheral attention
Also suggested that increased state anxiety causes distraction and task irrelevant thoughts.
What is increased muscle tension?
High stress can cause muscle tension and coordination interference, increasing chance of injury
- Increased stress may also cause generalized fatigue, muscle inefficiency, reduced flexibility, and motor coordination problems.
- Important: Be aware of athletes undergoing major life changes/ stress
- Look for signs of increased muscle tension/ abnormal attentional difficulties
when performing
What are all the other explanations of the stress-injury relationship?
- Overemphasis on acting tough and a “giving 110%” attitude
* Can contribute to overtraining and overuse injuries - Failure to distinguish between normal discomfort and pain of injury
- “You’re injured, you’re worthless” attitude
* Can lead to playing w/ an injury even worse injury - Sport ethic norm, values, and environment
* “winners never quit and quitters never win” lead to denial of pain and injury
What are the three general categories of emotional responses to being injured?
- Injury-relevant information processing
* Injured athlete focuses on info. related to the pain of injury, awareness of extent of
injury, & questions about how injury happened - Emotional upheaval and reactive behaviors
* Once athlete realized they are injured – may become emotionally agitated, feel
isolated, denial, self-pity - Positive outlook and coping
* Athlete accepts injury, begins coping efforts, optimistic
What are other injury reactions?
- Identity loss:
Greatly affects self-concept
Coaches providing a supportive environment in the rehabilitation process can help athletes maintain part of their athletic identity - Fear and anxiety:
Worry if they will recover, if reinjury will occur, and if someone will replace them
permanently in the lineup
Less time to practice/compete more time for worry - Lack of confidence:
Can result in decreased motivation, inferior performance, or additional injury because
the athletes overcompensate - Performance decrements:
Low confidence/ missed practice time can lead to postinjury declines in performance
Many athletes have difficulty lowering expectations after an injury and expect to
immediately return to a preinjury level of performance - Group processes:
Injury of one athlete can negatively or positively affect group processes of a team
