Playing a sport is a core childhood and living memory of many collegiate and professional athletes. Your teammates, big games, team dinners, and off-the-field memories bring nostalgia to sports. However, an undesirable part of sports may overshadow those positive aspects at many points: injuries.
While athletes can take measures and precautions to prevent injuries, they are realistically unavoidable in sports such as football, hockey, basketball, and soccer. According to the NCAA, 564,712 injuries of different severity occurred between 2014 and 2019 across all collegiate sports programs nationwide.
There is not only a physical recovery from an injury but, arguably as important, a substantial mental recovery. While not talked about that often, the psychological aspect of injuries impacts millions of athletes worldwide. From the perspectives of Mass General researcher Miho J. Tanaka, MD, PhD, and Kyle Banker, a college athlete, we want to outline the different injury recovery strategies and psychological challenges athletes face while working to return to the playing field.
A Q&A With Dr. Miho J. Tanaka
Miho J. Tanaka, MD, PhD, is a sports medicine surgeon recognized for her research in patellofemoral (kneecap) disorders and gender-based differences in orthopedic injuries.
What is the impact of sports injuries on an athlete's well-being or mental health?
Tanaka: Increasing studies are being performed on the relationship between mental health and sports injuries and vice versa. Injuries in athletes can contribute to the development or worsening of mental health disorders. Studies have demonstrated greater rates of depression and anxiety in injured athletes when compared to noninjured athletes. There are ongoing efforts to raise awareness about the importance of addressing both an athlete’s mental and physical health when treating their injuries.
How does length/intensity of treatment outcomes psychologically impact athletes?
Tanaka: Chronic injuries and prolonged recoveries can be especially difficult for patients and athletes. Studies have demonstrated a relationship between prolonged injuries in athletes with increases in mood alterations. Multiple factors can contribute to this, and the complex relationship between injury and mental health continues to be explored.
Do athletes feel less confident returning to their sport after a sizeable injury?
Tanaka: Psychological readiness to return to sports has become an increasingly popular area of study. Psychological readiness can influence an athlete’s ability to return to play after undergoing knee surgery. Psychological distress before surgery has also been associated with increased pain scores and worse metrics, such as range of motion after surgery. Future studies are needed to understand how to best identify and treat athletes who may need psychological support while treating their injuries.
What strategies do you offer to boost the mental health of an injured athlete?
Tanaka: The multidisciplinary approach is critical to addressing the holistic health of an injured athlete. We work closely with sports psychologists and manage injuries together through a team approach, to help an athlete cope with multiple stressors of an injury such as time away from the sport, the recovery process, and fear of re-injury, as they go through their treatments and return to sports.
A Q&A With A College Athlete: Kyle Banker
Kyle Banker is a Communications Intern with the Mass General Research Institute and a Senior at the University of Miami, where he plays goalie for the Men’s Soccer Team.
How do you physically recover from an injury?
Kyle Banker: Any minor or major injury I have suffered has an evident physical toll on my body. I am currently healing from a severe sprained ankle, which seems minor compared to the other injuries I have suffered over the years. In cases like this, I must wait and rest before beginning physical therapy to rejoin my team, resulting in missing a few games or months throughout the year.
As for the actual recovery process, my university offers a lot of valuable resources so that we can heal our injuries. But, athletes have different care options depending on their level of play. For example, a professional athlete in leagues such as the NBA and NFL will have much better trainers and healthcare resources than college athletes. Despite this, I am grateful for the resources I can access. From their help, I now understand the strategies and policies needed to heal from general injuries such as a sprained ankle outside of physical therapy. It usually involves a lot of ice, elevation, and rest!
How does an injury impact your mental health?
Banker: Injuries can psychologically affect an athlete and their mental health. Whenever I am injured, I usually feel a combination of anger, sadness, and helplessness from not being on the field. However, injuries also activate a fear of re-injury and reduced confidence in returning to the field and playing effectively. For example, after missing many games, I often feel that once returning to my team, I will be unable to compete on the same level as before. For the most part, I want to avoid putting myself in similar situations where I previously got injured, which slightly impacts my play and decision-making. This feeling often remains in my head for countless future games and years due to the memory of the injury.
My mental health also takes a toll during the injury recovery process. Whether it is a minor or major injury, I always fear a long recovery process will result in losing my starting position on the field (which has happened multiple times). During this period, you have these thoughts swirling in your head while facing isolation and time away from your team. As a college athlete, combining that feeling with my classes and other involvements, it can be significantly stressful to be injured.
What would you like people to know about the psychological impact of an injury?
Banker: Throughout my experiences as an athlete, I would argue that the psychological aspect of recovering from an injury is just as important as healing your body itself. Not only must you need to feel emotionally and mentally prepared to play the sport you love, but you also must do so at a high level. Often enough, when I have been injured, I am replaced by another player by which you must compete to win back my starting position. While this is different from situation to situation, this competition immediately once returning can add significant stress, requiring mental toughness and readiness.
As a college soccer player, I know we have varying mental health resources to ensure that our injury recoveries do not significantly reduce our confidence and affect our mood. However, this part of the recovery process is often overlooked. I hope that the media will begin to shine more of a light on how athletes mentally recover from an injury because it is very important and directly impacts how we play. From this, I hope to see mental health resources grow and spread to fellow athletes like myself across the globe.
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