The Psychological Aspects of Injury in Sport

Abstract

The benefit of sports and physical activity are widely known. However, the risk of injury is an unfavourable consequence in physical training. Age, gender, injury history, body size, local anatomy and biomechanics, aerobic fitness, muscle strength, psychological and psychosocial factors as well as general mental ability are factor in the predisposition to injury. It sports, regardless of the best efforts of coaches and trainers, injuries do occur. One of the most important aspects in sport injury is the psychological aspect. Which include psychological variables as predictors of injury occurrence, athlete's psychological response to injury, psychological aspects of the rehabilitation process, and also psychological readiness to return to competition. Psychological factors of injury occurrence in sports can be predicted. Among the factors already studied are the stress responses, personality, history of stressors, coping resources, stte–trait anxiety, self–esteem, and mental toughness. With regard to the psychological response to injury, a few factors such as emotions and behaviour of the injured athletes have been identified. Studies on phychological aspects of the rehabilition process have indicated that injured athletes need a number of approaches that can be implemented such as communication skills and motivation techniques. Nevertheless, injured athletes need to consider some psychological readiness factors to return to competition like anxiety, fear and loss of confidence which subsequently may affect their performance when they return to competition. Key words: sport; injury; psychological; predictors; response; rehabilitation; competition.