Sports Psychology And Visualization - Dealing With Injury

Sports injuries are a real possibility and likely probable for most pro athletes. It does not have to be a contact sport, as tennis players and golfers all suffer from injuries during training, and even mishaps unrelated to the sport itself. In fact, the longer the career then the more the likelihood that an athlete or sports performer will not escape injuries. This can be a real problem for people that rely on good health to perform.

How must they feel when injured? Most professional athletes have to live and breath their sport all their waking hours. What happens when they are forced out of action due to injury?

At any level of involvement, a sports injury that prevents you from doing what you normally do is extremely frustrating. Even if you normally just meet up with the lads for a kick-about once a week, an injury takes away your ability to play, to get some exercise, and to socialize in the process - it affects your life in many ways.

David Doermann of the University of Utah in the USA describes the emotional effects of long-term sports injury rehabilitation as being similar to the "Five Stages of Grief.'

Denial - Especially at elite level, a sportsperson considers themselves to be 'superior' in terms of physical strength - it's just not possible that they could be injured.

Anger - The realization that they are injured leads to anger, a period of being angry at themselves for having allowed the injury to occur.

Bargaining - At this stage, an injured athlete will try desperately to speed up their return to play by attempting to bargain with absolutely everyone. They'll plead with the physio, the coach, and passers-by in the street to be able to return to training - "if I do this exercise for a whole week, can I try playing next week?"

Depression - As the weeks of enforced rest continue, a player begins to feel sorry for themselves and can become increasingly withdrawn as they feel out of sorts with life. It's at this stage, a player might lose hope of ever fully recovering and give up on their sport completely.

Acceptance - At this final stage of acceptance, a player realizes that focusing on the physical rehabilitation process is the way forward.

To be able to make the leap from "depression" to "acceptance" takes considerable strength of character. The most important factor contributing to psychological acceptance - and therefore recovery - is mental skill training.

The most effective way to recover from injury and to remain positive and motivated throughout the rehabilitation process is to use the sports psychology technique of goal setting. Just as a player uses goal setting to get them to peak match fitness, the goal setting process can also take them from injury to recovery.

Many world class athletes knows the pain of missing important, games, matches, tournaments, and finals, but learn how not to focus on missed opportunities due to circumstances beyond their control. They are firmly fixed on the opportunities that are yet to come upon a full recovery. They also know that visualization can be a part of the rehabilitation process.

By: Don MacNaughton

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Want to learn More About Donald MacNaughton? www.donmacnaughton.org His work spans leadership and performance development in both the corporate and sporting arenas. Zoned in Performance is a business consultancy specialising in High Performance Coaching and Performance Psychology. To learn more about 'Mental Toughness" to achieve winning results, sign up free for the "The Winning Edge-The 7 Keys to Playing the Game of Life at highperformancecoaching.org