PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO SPORTS RELATED INJURIES AND HOW MENTAL STRATEGIES CAN FACILITATE RECOVERY
Lisa Maybury, Chloe Robertson, Keiran Russell, and Nicole Ward; Australian Catholic University
This research was conducted during the taught unit ‘Exercise Psychology – HMSC236’ and was supervised by Dr. Stephen Burke.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate psychological factors that may enhance recovery from sport specific injury and identify mental strategies that may facilitate recovery. A survey format was used to measure attitude, outlook, stress, social support, goal setting, positive self-talk, and mental imagery in 12 males and 6 females. Recommendations for enhanced healing were also investigated. The subjects used were rugby league, netball or touch football players and had sustained a knee, ankle, shoulder or spinal injury. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the variables measured in the study. One-way ANOVA was used to determine if a significant difference existed between the healing variables and the recovery rate. From the healing variables tested, goal setting was the only variable that produced significant results. Qualitative results indicated psychological factors and mental strategies that were employed by the subjects to facilitate recovery.
Keywords: injury, psychological reactions, mental strategies, recovery, goal setting
Introduction
Rehabilitation is both a mental and physical process. Sports medicine has made great advances in the physical rehabilitation of injured athletes, but little attention has been given to the psychological rehabilitation of these athletes (Crossman & Jamieson, 1985; Gordon, 1986). In their study of how psychological strategies help in rehabilitation, Ievleva and Orlick (1991) found that fast healing athletes used more goal setting, positive self-talk strategies, and, to a lesser degree, healing imagery than did slow healing athletes. This suggests that psychological factors play an important role in injury recovery.
The aim of this study is to investigate psychological factors that may enhance recovery from sports specific injury and to expand on previous literature that supports the link between mental strategies and speed of recovery. This study will attempt to answer two research questions:
On the basis of findings from previous studies, it was expected that mental strategies (attitude, goal setting, imagery, social support, coping skills), would affect, to some extent, the speed of recovery.
Method
Participants
The sample size selected for this study consisted of eighteen subjects. This included twelve males (67%) and six females (33 %). Eleven of the players were rugby league players (56%), three were netball players (17%), and four played touch football (22%).
Sports Injury Survey
The Sports Injury Survey (Ievleva & Orlick, 1991) was the key instrument used in this study. It consists of twenty five questions including questions relating to important psychological factors in recovery, such as, attitude and outlook, stress and stress control, social support, positive self-talk, goal setting, mental and healing imagery and beliefs.
The survey incorporated questions which required a numerical response and questions which required the subject to expand on their response. The numerical responses were rated on a 0-10 scale. Instructions to the subjects were to circle the most appropriate number according to the scale provided and add any additional explanatory comments to clarify answers (Ievleva & Orlick, 1991).
Statistical Analysis
Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) were calculated for the variables measured in the study. One-way ANOVA was used to determine if a significant difference existed between the healing variables and the recovery rate. The Statistical Package for Sports Sciences (SPSS) was employed to examine the network of relationships between the examined variables. Significance was set at p<0.05.
Results
Table 1 displays the means, standard deviations and correlation results for the data
.Table 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Healing Variable-Recovery Time
Correlations for Data
|
Variable M SD F |
|
Goals 20.1 7.9 6.632* Attitude 25.2 3.9 2.887 Stress 2.6 1.8 0.751 Self-talk 237.5 190 0.620 Outlook 29.6 6.1 0.225 |
* p < 0.05
The healing variables were ranked according to their level of significance. Table 1 indicates that goal setting, attitude and stress were the top three variables associated with recovery rate. Of all the healing variables, goal setting was the only variable to show significance.
The survey provided to the candidates contained a number of open-ended questions which brought about a variety of responses from the subjects. Although attitude, stress, positive self-talk and outlook did not produce significant results, they did appear to be important to some subjects in the recovery process as a number of subjects indicated the benefits of these variables in the open-ended questions.
Discussion and Conclusions
This study and the study conducted by Ievleva and Orlick (1991) used the Sports Injury Survey, however the results of the two studies differed slightly. This study indicated that goal setting, attitude, and stress were the top three variables associated with the recovery rate. Goal setting was the only variable to produce significant results. This may be due to the fact that goal setting is a skill that can be learned and is within the person’s control.
In comparison, Ievleva and Orlick (1991) found goal setting, positive self-talk, and healing imagery to be the top three variables, and goal setting and positive self-talk produced significant results. The difference between the findings can be explained by absences of response to the healing imagery questions by participants in this study.
The results from the statistical analysis indicated significance between goal setting and recovery time. From the surveys that were returned by the subjects, it is apparent that the majority of the responses were directed towards long-term goals and sport-related goals (e.g., wanting to return to competition by a specific date, and wanting to return to their previous level of performance). Very few of the subjects mentioned setting short -term goals and this contradicts findings by Ievleva and Orlick (1991). Responses to the open-ended questions were very useful in revealing insights into the recovery strategies employed by the subjects following their injuries.
Limitations of this study include small sample size and possibility of misinterpreted qualitative results. Despite the limitations of this study, the findings have important practical implications for sport injury recovery. Psychological responses to injury recovery were identified and a list of practical suggestions were developed from the literature, observations from this study, and experience with injured athletes. These included:
- Adhere to rehabilitation programs
- Take the time to make a full recovery
- Try and stay mentally and physically motivated
- Set achievable goals (particularly short-term goals)
- When describing the injury, always attempt to follow it with a positive statement
References
Crossman, J., & Jamieson, J. (1985). Differences in perceptions of seriousness and disrupting effects of athletic injury as viewed by athletes and their trainer. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 61 (3): 1131-1134.
Gordon, S. (1986). Sport Psychology and the Injured Athlete: A cognitive-behavioral approach to injury rehabilitation. Sports Science Periodical on Research and Technology in Sport, 1: 1-9.
Ievleva, L., & Orlick, T. (1991). Mental links to enhanced healing: An exploratory study. Sports Psychologist, 5 (1), 25-40.
Email correspondence: S.Burke@mackillop.acu.edu.au