Sports Injuries: The Challenges of Returning
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November 8, 2011 • Ryan Clayton, Sports Co-Editor
Filed under Sports, Top Stories
The tangible effects of a sports injury may be gone, but the psychological effects may still be there. A sports injury, simply put, is a traumatic effect, one that can produce lasting damage to an athlete’s confidence in his or her own abilities. A player can return to a sport as the same person physically that they were pre-injury, but they can be drastically changed by the injury. A sports injury can be destructive to the way an athlete performs and the results of their performance. A sports injury can still limit an athlete even after all the pain is gone and the doctor has given the O.K. Now-a-days with a major increase in the number of adolescent athletes, there comes an increase in sports injuries to adolescents (about 3.5 million injuries per year). Now, with more and more injured athletes, more and more people are asking the question – how do I overcome this?
One of the best things an athlete can do after an injury has healed is to let it all go and just pretend they were never injured. Unfortunately, this is something that is easier said than done, and it can take time for an athlete to fully trust in a healed body part. The best way for an athlete to regain his or her confidence is to crawl before they walk and walk before they run. In other words, start small; start with small, simple drills. Next, move on to more complex and more active drills, then, move on to a practice with a team. Practice is extremely important, being that it is a confidence builder. Confidence, for athletes, is one of the most important things to have. Confidence will push an athlete to his or her highest level and its confidence that can help an athlete regain what was lost during the injury. Finally, get back into the game!
Furthermore, one of the most important steps that an athlete can take to overcome the mental effects of a sports injury is to realize that they are fully healed. An athlete needs to come to the realization that the time they took off from the sport, or the work they did in physical therapy, was enough for them to be fully healed. Also, if an athlete purposely holds themselves back, or over relies on a part of their body that has not been injured (such as putting extra weight on your left leg to take weight off a previously injured right leg) another injury can occur. The idea of the strength of one’s mind is a key aspect to overcoming the destruction of confidence and fear of re-injury brought on by a sports injury.
While an athlete may appear to be healed, or even better than before, on the surface; an athlete can be lacking confidence in their abilities, and fearful of a re-occurrence. Although this can be damaging to an athlete’s performance, it can be combated as well. The most important thing that an athlete needs to comprehend is that they are fully healed and they’ll be ok. Furthermore, just like in rehabilitation from the injury, an athlete has to start small and build up. Doing so can build confidence and prepare the athlete to return to a vigorous training schedule. Recovery from a sports injury simply takes a sound body and a sound mind.
Read more at http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/adolescent/sis.html
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