A sports injury has both physical and psychological consequences for the athlete. A common postinjury psychological response is elevated fear of reinjury.
Fear of Reinjury in Athletes: Implications for Rehabilitation (Sports Health, Hsu, et al)
What did the authors set out to achieve?
To provide an overview of the implications of fear of reinjury on the rehabilitation of athletes, including:
- Clinical methods to measure fear of reinjury
- The impact of fear of reinjury on rehabilitation outcomes, including physical impairments, function, and return to sports rate
- Potential interventions to address fear of reinjury during rehabilitation
How did they do it?
PubMed was searched for articles published in the past 16 years relating to fear of reinjury in athletes for this Clinical Review (Level III).
What did they find?
Fear of reinjury after a sports injury can negatively affect the recovery of physical impairments, reduce self-report function, and prevent a successful return to sport.
Athletes with high fear of reinjury might benefit from a psychologically informed practice approach to improve rehabilitation outcomes.
The application of psychologically informed practice would be to measure fear of reinjury in the injured athletes and provide interventions to reduce fear of reinjury to optimize rehabilitation outcomes.
Fear of reinjury after a sports injury can lead to poor rehabilitation outcomes.
Incorporating principles of psychologically informed practice into sports injury rehabilitation could improve rehabilitation outcomes for athletes with high fear of reinjury.
Easier said than done. How can we incorporate this into our practice?
How do I incorporate these interventions into a busy clinical day?
For my practice, the heart of what I am able to incorporate regularly is Education, Goal Setting, and Social Support. How do I do it?
Education: provide resources local and national - such as therapists, podcasts, apps (HeadSpace, etc) to help educate & support athletes throughout the stages of recovery.
Goal Setting: particularly with post op athletes, I try to give them goals to achieve by their next visit with me. Depending on the stage of recovery, it might be a range of motion goal or it could be nailing proper form with a single leg squat or drop jump.
Social Support: normalize the anxiety and fear they are feeling. Let them know you are available - even if you don't know all the answers - be the person to help guide them to the right person/resource.
Author
Dr. Catherine Logan, MD, MBA
Catherine Logan, MD, MBA, MSPT, is a sports medicine orthopaedic surgeon specializing in complex knee and shoulder surgery at Colorado Sports Medicine and Orthopaedics (COSMO) in Denver, Colorado. As a former physical therapist & trainer, Dr. Logan provides a distinct expertise in sports injury, prevention, and surgical management.
