During a game, the crowd is cheering whilst players are hyper focused on fulfilling their role and trying to win, that’s their job after all. But in the back of their mind lies a dark thought – that many try not to think about too much; what if I get injured?
When people think of sport, they associate it with strength, confidence and determination, often picturing athletes who push their bodies to the limit in order to succeed in their respected sports. However, many fans fail to realise that all of that pushing can lead to their downfall, causing athletes to get seriously hurt. Injuries are a constant risk in every sport, and the fear of it can follow an athlete throughout their whole career.
Particularly for professional athletes, injuries can mean a lot more than just physical pain; they can mean months of rehabilitation, loss of form or even the end of a career. For younger athletes, it could mean their big break going out the window as they may be out for months or years, and the love they originally had for theirsport being lost. Although many athletes do come back from injury and compete well, they’ll always be living in fear that the previous injury may reappear causing them to be out for longer.
The Mental Impact of Injury Fear
The fear of injury doesn’t not only affect an athlete’s body, but it can also have a major impact on their psyche. Many people in the sports world talk about performance anxiety which described the fear which some athletes feel before or during a game about whether or not they will perform well. But it is also possible for them to feel this anxiety and pressure when they think too much about getting injured, especially if they are recovering from a prior injury.
An athlete who has previously experienced a serious injury may become more cautious or hesitant when they return to their sport as due to fear of re-injuring themselves but this could become a problem for the managers of these sports clubs; if they aren’t mentally in the zone, they may end up getting benched or not picked in the squad entirely. In some cases, they may even be let go by the club out of worry that they won’t perform as well as they did pre-injury, this causes financial repercussions.
“Fear of re-injury after injury is very common. Taking a common sports injury for example, an ACL rupture, repeat injury is very common and the main reason athletes fail to return to the sport.” physiotherapist and sports scientist Stewart Kerr said.
Some athletes will doubt their bodies when they initially return to training, and when they put that doubt in themselves, they become more likely to hurt themselves. Any hesitation may result in a miss timed tackle, or a miss timed foot placement which could lead to them re-injuring their old wounds or receiving a new injury.
Jack Brown from the Rugby Union club commented on this fear: “Definitely about how long I’ll be out from rugby. Since it’s my life now, it’s what I think about it more as it means I won’t be able to do the thing love for a certain amount of time, all I want to do is get back on the pitch.”
Overcoming the Fear
Although the fear of injury can be a big anxiety in an athlete, many find a way to manage it. Mental preparation is becoming an increasingly important part of sports training, with techniques such as meditation, visualisation and goal setting helping them stay focused and calm under pressure so that they can relieve their nerves in preparation for when they come back to playing.
“The role of the mind in recovery is significant; psychology readiness is now considered just as important as physical recovery in return-to-play decisions,” said Stewart Kerr.
It is important that athletes rebuild their confidence after a big injury because if they keep that fear and remain in that mindset for the rest of their career, it may be ruined, costing them the chance to revert to the person they previously were.
But, most importantly it is up to the medical staff to ensure that players are physically and mentally well before they return to any training sessions to make sure that they don’t hurt themselves again. This ensures that they themselves know that they are mentally sound so that they can perform at their highest level.
“We do plenty training before we get back into it, it’s much easier in a professional environment as we have physios working with us full time” Jack Brown said.
At the end of the day, athletes are often seen as strong, almost superhuman figures expected to push through the hurt and pain without hesitation, but behind that stoic image they are no different from anyone else. Like everyone, they can feel fear, doubt and vulnerability.
The reality of injuries is that sometimes the emotional pain is deeper and is harder to fix than the physical one, as it’s a lot more difficult to overcome emotion compared to fixing a broken bone. Players need to feel comfortable enough to speak up about their struggles with injuries so that when someone else is going through something similar they have somebody to relate to; so that they don’t feel shamed into thinking that no one else has experienced what they have felt; that they realise, they aren’t alone.
