Are you a professional athlete who is associated with a sport for many years? Whether you are a beginner who has just started or an advanced athlete who has spent many years of your life with a sport professionally.
Well, you must be aware of the fact that ‘How does it feel when suddenly you have to take a long break after facing injury?’ Every single athlete has gone through such a feeling of getting stuck in their career due to a severe injury.
After an athlete gets injured, it’s not only that we should focus on the physical recovery, rather mental healing becomes more important to take him back to the original place. But, talking about the psychological stress an athlete goes through during the phase of injury is underrated.
Here in this blog, we will uncover the essential psychological aspects an athlete needs to be aware of while going through a tough phase of their career.
Injury as a part of an Athlete's life
During the course of their career, almost every athlete undergoes a painful period of dealing with several injuries. It’s the mindset that ‘I will face the situation and come out stronger’ that differentiates a professional athlete from the rest of the crowd.
After playing any sport for a longer period of time, an athlete develops a never-give-up mindset and understands how to handle such difficult situations again and again in their life. Maybe that’s the reason why people say ‘Sport is the greatest teacher in life’.
Initially, it seems frustrating and difficult to handle such situations but sooner or later an athlete develops a fighting attitude to come out of injury as a better individual in future.
Different Phases of Recovery
Immediate Response
When an athlete is introduced to any injury whether it is small or big, the first reaction they have inside their mind is always shock and denial. Most of them struggle to accept the situation as it is and get disturbed by thinking about the consequences of it in the future. Emotions run high and the mind gets flooded with negative thoughts.
Acknowledgement and Acceptance
After a period of time, when they come out of this shocking moment, the athlete starts accepting the reality of the situation. Accepting the situation quickly and acting positively with a solution-oriented mindset helps in early recovery. They start thinking about the healing process and seek further help to take the process forward.
Rehabilitation and Adaptation
Rehab is the most important thing an athlete needs to consider after the treatment of an injury. This phase may seem traumatizing as it's a long process of daily habits that speeds up the healing mechanism of the injured part of the body.
This is the time when maintaining mental strength and patience is required the most. It's a lengthy process where an individual goes through medication along with physical healing and strengthening exercises towards regaining their original strength.
Re-entry and Reintegration
The final phase is the end result of all the efforts the athlete puts in during the recovery process of the journey. This phase can be challenging as the athletes may fear getting injured again or dropping their performance level. Self-confidence is that weapon which helps them win the mental battle during that period and gain victory over their limitations.
The Role of Sports Psychology in the Healing Process
Emotional Support
After a severe emotional breakdown, an athlete needs both physical as well as psychological recovery simultaneously. Sports psychologists play a key role in helping the athletes navigate their recovery journey. They come up with various scientific and proven mental recovery strategies like managing stress, maintaining motivation and dealing with setbacks.
Many useful techniques such as visualization, goal-setting and mindfulness can be helpful in keeping the athlete mentally positive and calm especially during this phase. Visualization and positive self-talk are considered important in building a connection towards the sport and gaining confidence back to the sport.
Setting Realistic Goals
Setting a realistic and achievable goal is very important for an injured athlete to come back to his/her previous form. SMART goals act as a very good technique to move ahead in the recovery process step by step.
For example, instead of setting a goal of getting back to running after a severe injury, the ideal and realistic goal can be to jog for 10 minutes every day for the first week. This helps the athlete to get a sense of motivation once they achieve these small goals one at a time.
Staying Connected
When an athlete gets injured, it makes him/her isolated from the team and sport. Staying in touch with teammates, coaches and community members gives them emotional support and motivation to deal with such situations gracefully.
Attending sporting events or practice sessions can also make them feel engaged with the sporting community which keeps up their motivation level during such challenging times.
Positive Self-Talk
Positive self-talk is considered as one of the most important mental practices to do in the course of injury. Instead of thinking ‘I’ll not recover, athletes can remind themselves as I will do my best and come out of this situation’. The change in thought process allows them to recover faster and can significantly impact their recovery process.
Dealing with Setbacks
Setbacks are a very common part of not only the injury phase but in the entire career of an athlete. When an athlete starts accepting the failure and takes full responsibility instead of complaining about the situation, the chances of recovering faster increase. Sports Psychologists play a crucial role by providing them with implementable strategies to overcome the challenges like reminding them what is controllable and what is not in any situation.
Conclusion
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The mental process of injury recovery can become challenging but accepting and understanding the fact that psychological techniques can provide great support helps the athlete deal with such difficult situations with ease and positivity.
By understanding the importance of various mental practices like setting SMART and realistic goals, positive self-talk, and staying connected to sports and people helps the athlete navigate the recovery phase more effectively. We all should understand the fact that recovery from an injury is not just a physical process but more importantly, a psychological process and appreciating its importance can boost the recovery speed by multifold.
Coming in engagement with a mental health counsellor or sports psychologist during such times of the career can take an athlete’s performance to significant heights.
About the author
Abhishek is a professional Badminton Coach and a Content Writer. Sports is his deep-hearted passion and helping young athletes to pursue sports is his mission. Born in Assam, he comes from a small town and aspires to contribute to the field of sports and bring change in the life of people. He wants every individual to play sports and live sports.
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