Sport and Exercise Physiology

1. What are the similarities between Billy’s and Harry’s experiences of injury? (100 words/5 marks)
There are perceptible similarities between the experiences of injury faced by both Harry and Billy. Both of these athletes find it hard to come to terms with the injury sustained. Billy and Harry are unable to cope with the fact that this injury will negatively impact their competitive careers and aspirations. Both of these individuals have the fear that the injury would lead to a lengthy lay off from active competition and that this might result in losing a place in the team. In addition, there is the fear that such injuries might lead to a further spell of injuries in the forthcoming periods.
2. Discuss how psychological factors could have led to Billy’s injury. (300 words/15 marks)
There are different ways in which psychological factors could have resulted in Billy’s injury. According to Williams and Andersen (1998), stress is a fundamental factor in the origin of an injury. One of the aspects that research undertaken in recent decades has demonstrated is the role that psychological factors play in both the prompting and the prevention of sports injuries. Williams and Andersen (1998) delineate the stress and injury model, which categorizes the stress response as an event that is impacted by different antecedents. The authors provided a wide-ranging, interactional model delineating the psychological preceding factors of sports injuries, comprising of hardiness, sense of coherence, achievement motivation, sensation seeking, trait anxiety as well as locus of control. Within the scope of stress in this model, the history of stressors comprise of key life events, everyday hassles and also previous injuries. In recent times, Billy has been experiencing a great deal of stress. Notably, his mother has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness and also his flatmate opted to move out of their space meaning Billy has to cover all of the financial expenses. In addition, Billy is facing a great deal of difficulty in understanding coursework of a subject in school. These psychological aspects could have given rise to the injury sustained by Billy. Imperatively, stress response is owing to facing a demanding competitive circumstance gives rise to an increase in the athlete’s muscle tension which, as a result, impairs motor coordination and diminishes flexibility. As pointed out, Billy sustained the injury because he landed strangely, and this could be owing to poor motor coordination. Furthermore, in the past year, Billy has experienced several injuries including hamstring strains and a dislocated shoulder. In addition, anxiety trait might cause the athlete to look at different circumstances as stressors, resulting in the proliferation of physiological activation and causing peripheral attentional lessening (Williams and Andersen, 1998).
3. Using either a cognitive appraisal model or a grief response model, discuss Billy’s psychological reactions to injury, taking into consideration what factors may have led to these reactions and what effect they may have. (400 words/20 marks)
The grief response model outlined by Tracey (2003) can be used to comprehensively discuss the psychological reactions that Billy had to injury. This bears in mind the different factors that might have given rise to these reactions and the different impacts they may have. In accordance to Tracey (2003), injury rehabilitation, especially the beginning stage of sustaining the injury, is linked with the extreme mood disruption and disturbance. She points out that athletes outlines a roller coaster of emotions, signified by feelings and sentiments of loss, diminished self-esteem, frustration and anger, in their endeavor to deal with their injury and subsequent rehabilitation. In the case of Billy, the initial reactions to the injury included frustration owing to the likelihood of a lengthy rehabilitation period. He is also angry because he might probably end up missing out numerous vital competitions. An additional reaction is the apprehension and worry of losing his position on the team. There is also the reaction of feeling useless to the team and a sense of disappointment for not being available for selection. More often than not, Billy has lost his temper and continues to be frustrated by the need to move around in clutches.
The antecedents of such emotions comprise of injury prognosis, physical pain, the timing of the injury sustained in the context of the competitive season, financial worries, missing training sessions and competitions as whole, in addition to other real, seeming, and prospective personal and contextual losses. In the case of Billy, the factors that might have led to these reactions is the fear and constant thinking of the timing of the injury in relation to their competitive season. Billy is significantly concerned that he is letting his team down and that he will end up missing out on key games and competitions and eventually losing his position in the team. This is associated with the reasoning and contemplation that the team has numerous trampolinists who are up and coming with potential and therefore could end up supplanting him from the team.
Without a doubt, these factors have an impact on the injured athlete. These effects are perceptible in the case of Billy. To begin with, Billy is experiencing frustration that has led to stress. This is owing to the fact that he is experiencing challenging in his everyday activities such as meal preparation, taking showers, and going up and down the stairs because of the clutches. Secondly, he is largely demotivated and as a result he has ended up missing out on a number of sessions for his rehabilitation program. Furthermore, he has major doubts regarding his capacity to recover from the injury and his susceptibility to future injuries.
4. Discuss three possible psychological intervention strategies that could help Billy to cope more effectively with the psychological effects of his injury. (400 words/20 marks)
There are different psychological intervention strategies that could be beneficial to Billy in coping more efficaciously with the psychological effects of his injury. Several research studies have been undertaken regarding the intervention of athletes who have sustained injuries in order for them to comeback successfully. According to Brewer (2010), a range of personal, cognitive, affective, as well as behavioral factors linked to sport injury rehabilitation results have been ascertained and numerous interventions have been deemed efficacious in improving sport injury rehabilitation results. One of the psychological intervention strategies is cognitive therapy to facilitate cognitive control. In delineation cognitive therapy can be an efficacious approach that can help Billy in calming and soothing the current thoughts that he is having. This approach can act as a mental tool kit for Billy and facilitate the challenging of his negative thoughts. Cognitive control encompasses being instigated to picture the process that the individual will embark on in the course of the rehabilitation journey. In the case of Billy, this intervention can include being shown how to mentally connect his mind with his injured ankle and imagine healing occurring and also picturing his body functioning normally. This is bound to improve his mood and relieve stress (Reese, Pittsinger and Yang, 2012).
A second intervention strategy that could benefit Billy is behavioral therapy. This sort of intervention is purposed to ascertain and aid in transforming potentially self-destructive or detrimental behaviors. In the case of Billy, this intervention will lay emphasis on the significance of augmenting not only mindfulness but also mental flexibility. For this reason, as an injured athlete, Billy will be able to connect with the current status of his life fully as a conscious person. In addition, counseling interventions such as prompting active listening, empathy as well as reflection will have the impact of improving the mental wellbeing of Billy during his process of rehabilitation. The third form of intervention that can help Billy is affective therapy or counseling. This encompasses laying emphasis on his emotions and taking charge of personal emotions. This will provide Billy with a better awareness of what he wants and what he requires. Through affective therapy, Billy will be able to choose to be positive that there will be no future injuries, and that he might be able to finish the rehabilitation process in a period that is less than six weeks and also be able to get used to walking around with crutches and get used to doing daily activities with them (Reese, Pittsinger and Yang, 2012).
References
Andersen, M.B. and Williams, J.M., 1988. A model of stress and athletic injury: Prediction and prevention. Journal of sport and exercise psychology, 10(3), pp.294-306.
Brewer, B.W., 2010. The role of psychological factors in sport injury rehabilitation outcomes. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 3(1), pp.40-61.
Reese, L.M.S., Pittsinger, R. and Yang, J., 2012. Effectiveness of psychological intervention following sport injury. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 1(2), pp.71-79.
Tracey, J., 2003. The emotional response to the injury and rehabilitation process. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 15(4), pp.279-293.
Williams, J.M. and Andersen, M.B., 1998. Psychosocial antecedents of sport injury: Review and critique of the stress and injury model'. Journal of applied sport psychology, 10(1), pp.5-25.