With a musculoskeletal injury prevalence as high as 77% among adult athletes, it is easy to overlook the mental health consequences of an injury. Athletes are particularly susceptible to mental health challenges when injured due to their athletic identity and associated identity loss when injured, along with a social environment which can suppress personal autonomy. Across the board, injury among athletes is related to higher risk for generalized anxiety and depression. Injured athletes are likely to have sleep disturbances, adverse alcohol behaviors, and adverse nutritional behaviors. Athletes forced into early retirement following injury are at a higher risk for psychological distress and addictive/abusive behaviors. As rehab professionals, it is important to consider the mental impact an injury has on not just athletes, but all people. We can provide safe spaces to share emotions and provide contacts to trusted mental health professionals. Even early stages of rehab should include exercises/activities which provide patients/clients with some return to their identity. For athletes, this may be finding ways to sweat or breath hard during a workout, while for others it may be incorporating their children or animals into their session. There is no limit to the number of creative ways we can tie to a person's pre-injury identity.
The abstract can be found here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37014610/
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