1 How does sport injury make people feel?

If you have ever experienced a sport injury, you will have first-hand experience of how having an injury can make people feel. Being involved in sport can become a significant part of people’s lives. In fact, some people have a very strong athletic identity, where their personal identity is strongly attached to being a sportsperson (Brewer et al., 1993). When an injury occurs, and sports participation is consequently either restricted or stopped, that identity can be lost which can lead to several psychological reactions.

England footballer Danny Rose described feeling very angry and experiencing depression after a knee injury that occurred in 2017 which took him away from playing for eight months.

Figure 1 Danny Rose (footballer)

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A photograph of a male footballer on the pitch wearing a white strip. The footballer is looking down at the ball as he dribbles it forward at speed, the crowd in soft focus behind him.

Figure 1 Danny Rose (footballer)

Activity 1 What are common psychological reactions to injury?

Timing: Allow about 20 minutes

Watch the video below in which 2016 Olympic hockey gold medallist Helen Richardson-Walsh discusses the psychological impact of the various injuries she has experienced during her career. As you watch the video, answer these questions:

1. What are some of the psychological responses Helen has experienced in response to sport injury?
2. What other negative psychological responses might a sport injury elicit?

Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2

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Transcript: Video 2

HELEN RICHARDSON-WALSH

As a full-time hockey player, I've experienced, unfortunately many injuries-- lots of little niggles, a few muscle tears. But I've also, unfortunately, experienced some quite big injuries that kept me out of the game for some time. When I was around 21, 22, I had an ankle injury which needed three operations, and I was out the game for two years.

More recently, I had double back surgery within the space of a year. That was hard to take. I missed a World Cup, which was very difficult. And it took a lot of hard work and some mental resilience to get me back to the sport that I love.

When I experienced those injuries, I had, obviously, the physical effects but also had to deal with the psychological effects. And there were many. Trust me. I found one of the things I did straight away was kind of isolate myself from the group, which I found really weird because I was someone who was very sociable. And I suddenly found I didn't want to be around the people that were doing what I wanted to do. I guess I was a little bit jealous of that and so took myself away.

I had a fair bit of embarrassment because I didn't get selected for a tournament, and I'd always been selected for a tournament. And there was kind of fear and anxiety that I couldn't get back to the sport that I played and had a dream of becoming an Olympic champion. That was a massive goal for me, and this injury was getting in my way.

Kind of encompassing that was a loss of identity as well. I really saw myself as a hockey player. And when I was injured, I struggled to mentally get around that, because was I a hockey player anymore because I couldn't actually physically play it? Plus the whole thing of not being able to do the thing that all my friends are doing because that's my social group. So there were so many mental aspects that I had to deal with when I was injured.

There was always a kind of progression with how I went through to get back on the pitch. Initially, when I was told that I was-- had the pain and told that I had to have surgery-- it was actually quite a fearful time. Surgery on your back, in particular with me, is quite scary. And so I was scared. It's not a nice thing to have to go through. But once I had the surgery and the surgeon comes in and says everything's fine, it was all about setting a plan. And that really helped me. I love plans, and once I was on that I kind of got the confidence to be able to go forward.

But unfortunately, the plan never works out. Always something comes up. And I always tell people now when they're going through injuries expect stuff to go wrong. And having that expectation is actually quite helpful, because I got to the point where because it's not going right, you kind of feel hopeless. You're thinking is this going to work out? You go through those different transitions, but once I was getting closer to the pitch that obviously helps.

But when you get back onto the pitch, then you're not as good as you were. And that's something really difficult to deal with. You're not as fit. Your skills aren't quite as good. And so you go through another difficult time. And then it's about setting your own expectations about how long things are going to take and how quickly you can get back to where you were.

End transcript: Video 2

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Discussion

1. Helen describes various psychological responses to sport injury. These include feelings of isolation, fear, anxiety and hopelessness. She also discusses feeling a loss of identity when not being able to play hockey, which links to the concept of athletic identity discussed at the beginning of this section. As a full-time hockey player, Helen might be expected to have a strong athletic identity and to see a large part of her identity as a hockey player.
2. Common negative psychological responses to injury include:
   • loss of identity
   • anger
   • fear
   • depression
   • reduced motivation
   • grief
   • loneliness
   • stress
   • anxiety
   • low self-esteem, and
   • confusion.

While we are focusing on negative psychological reactions here – as most athletes will view injury as a negative unwanted experience – it is important to note that some may view the onset of an injury as positive. For example, an injury could be viewed as an excuse for poor performance or a break from intensive training.

It is important to consider psychological responses to injury as they are considered to have an important influence on the rehabilitation process, and most people are likely to have some kind of psychological reaction to being injured. In the next section, you will explore the reactions of our two case studies Lois and Travis.