Epidemiological reports of sports injury confirm a high incidence of injuries occurring at all levels of sport participation, ranging in severity from cuts and bruises to spinal cord injury. The psychosocial dynamics accompanying sport injury should be known to ensure psychological recovery, an important aspect in rehabilitating the injured athlete. Earlier studies demonstrating psychological differences between athletes and nonathletes indicated the need for actual research on the athlete's postinjury response in lieu of accepting the hypothesis that the emotional responses of athletes to injury parallels existing (i.e. terminally ill) 'loss of health models'. Recent research has shown that injured athletes experience simultaneous mood disturbance and lowered self-esteem. Due to a paucity of research on the coping methods of injured athletes, studies involving the coping methods of several nonathletic patient populations were reviewed. These patients benefitted primarily from a concrete, problem-focused, behaviourally orientated programme which minimises uncertainty. This approach is theoretically ideal for injured athletes, congruent with the goal setting and performance outcome emphasis common to exercise and sport training programmes but to date the effectiveness of these strategies for injured athletes have not been fully examined. Therefore, until such research is available, these coping strategies (also used for performance enhancement) are provided as therapeutic guidelines for dealing with the emotional distress experienced by injured athletes. Individual responses of injured athletes varied from those who took injury in stride to those who required psychiatric intervention. This marked individual variation in response underscores the importance of neither assuming mood disturbance nor overlooking a serious emotional response in the injured athlete. Awareness of the emotional responses of athletes to injury and employment of appropriate coping strategies should facilitate optimal rehabilitation and return to sport.

Although athletic injury is common in sport, little is documented about the application of psychological principles to injury rehabilitation. This study surveyed athletic trainers on the use of psychological strategies with injured athletes. Athletic trainers (N = 115) responded to Likert rating scales on athlete characteristics, efficacy of psychological strategies, and perceived importance of trainer knowledge about psychological strategies. Results revealed that trainers distinguished between athletes coping most versus least successfully with injury on characteristics of willingness to listen, positive attitude, intrinsic motivation, and willingness to learn about the injury and rehabilitation techniques. Trainers rated effective psychological techniques for facilitating athlete recovery as good interpersonal communication skills, positive reinforcement, coach support, and keeping the athlete involved with the team. Knowledge about using a positive communication style, strategies for setting realistic goals, methods for encouraging positive self-thoughts, and understanding individual motivation were rated as most important.

Psychological rehabilitation in response to physical injury is of primary concern to athletes, trainers, coaches, and sport psychologists. To date, there is little empirical research to shed light on this topic, as well as on the role of sport psychology practitioners in facilitating the prevention, rehabilitation, and recovery from athletic injuries. The purpose of this paper is to consolidate and report the information available on the nature of injuries and make suggestions concerning the application of sport psychology principles when working with injured athletes. Four major concerns are addressed with regard to current knowledge and practical implications: how injuries happen, how athletes respond to injuries, how psychological rehabilitation as well as physical recovery from injuries can be facilitated, and determining when injured athletes are psychologically ready to return to competition.

No abstract

Ten males and 10 females in each of four grade/age groups threw styrofoam balls of six different diameters as hard as possible at a wall 6.7 m away. Each ball size was thrown four times. The first hypothesis, that the levels of the five components of the one-hand overhand throw would be quite stable for individuals for throws of a particular ball size, was supported. Ball sizes at which the component levels were unstable marked the beginning of a transition to a new component level 70.6% of the time. The second hypothesis, that five components would change from higher to lower levels for most of the subjects as ball size was scaled up, was supported only for the backswing and forearm components. These components were more likely to be affected by increasing ball size because the higher level components required a firm, one-hand grip on the ball, which became more difficult as ball diameters exceeded the subjects’ hand widths. The results indicate that practitioners need to recognize that different ball sizes may elicit different throwing patterns, and specifically that a critical ball diameter may be reached when it is equal to hand width.