‘We’ve just learnt to put up with it’: an exploration of attitudes and decision-making surrounding playing with injury in English professional football

Abstract

A number of psychological and sociocultural factors have been suggested to influence athletes' willingness to play despite being injured. Investigation of this phenomenon is undertaken optimally at the time when athletes are injured; however, many studies have relied upon retrospective recall of feelings in individuals following recovery. This study aimed, through semi-structured existential-phenomenological interviews, to explore decision-making and attitudes surrounding playing with injury in professional footballers that were currently injured but continuing to play in matches in the English football leagues. Using deductive qualitative content analysis, cultural, situational and personal moderators that have been theorised to influence playing with injury in professional football were tested. The sample comprised nine professional footballers from three different playing leagues that were identified as playing whilst injured by team physiotherapists. There was a high level of agreement in the findings of this study with previous research. Personal and cultural moderators were stable across participants, and included conforming to the athlete role and operating in a culture where pain has been normalised. Situational factors, however, were unstable and were influenced by playing league, with constraints in squad size being an important influence for lower league players. These professional footballers sought windows of opportunity for treatment and recovery both within the season and at the end of the season. It appeared that a decline in performance, rather than the presence of pain, is used as a critical marker for injury. More research is needed to explore differences in presenteeism practices at different playing levels using larger number of participants.

Determinants of Coach Communication About Concussion Safety in US Collegiate Sport

“…Extensive ethnographic evidence has described how engaging in risky behavior, such as playing while injured, is normative in many contemporary male and female sports environments [17][18][19][20][21][22]-although cultures of "precaution" have also been described [23]. The socialization process through which playing while injured becomes an accepted behavior has been described using the interpretive sociological framework of symbolic interactionism [24][25][26][27].…”

The impact of playing in matches while injured on injury surveillance findings in professional football

“…There may be several reasons contributing to these differences, e.g., restrictions in the size of the available squad may constrain players to make match appearances when injured. This has been shown through interviews with injured footballers who continued to play while injured (Hammond et al, 2013). The financial position of teams in terms of income, turnover, and expenditure varies substantially across leagues within English football (Amir & Livne, 2005), and the higher the playing league, the more money a team has to invest in player assets.…”

Playing sport injured is associated with osteoarthritis, joint pain and worse health related quality of life: A cross sectional study

“…Athletes at different standards-of-play potentially compete while injured at different rates. (14) Specifically, lower level football players competed more often and for longer while injured compared to professional football players. (14) The differences seen in the amount of time these athletes play while injured have been attributed to resource availability and motivations.…”

“…(14) Specifically, lower level football players competed more often and for longer while injured compared to professional football players. (14) The differences seen in the amount of time these athletes play while injured have been attributed to resource availability and motivations. (14) Athletes competing at an elite standard have greater individual and organizational resources available, allowing for teams to better handle time loss from injury compared to lower standards-of-play.…”

“…(14) The differences seen in the amount of time these athletes play while injured have been attributed to resource availability and motivations. (14) Athletes competing at an elite standard have greater individual and organizational resources available, allowing for teams to better handle time loss from injury compared to lower standards-of-play. (14) Elite athletes also have different playing motivations, focusing on loss of performance, rather than the overall ability to play, as the determining factor to play while injured.…”