By Melody Steensma, ATC It is hard for people to understand what an athlete goes through when they experience a serious injury while participating on a competitive athletic team. It is not until you experience such an injury that you can fully understand the feelings and emotions that an athlete may go through. Many feel that these five stages also describe the loss athletes feel when they have suffered an injury that can either end their season or end their career. The five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Denial begins at the time the athlete suffers the injury.
The athlete may have a hard time believing that this could actually happen to them. They may play off the injury like it isn t as serious as it seems. Once they get the opinion of one doctor they may ask for a second or third opinion before they believe that the diagnosis is real. Once the athlete realizes the injury is real, anger sets in and their attitude toward everyone around them turns ugly. They could be angry either with themselves or angry with a particular person that may have played a part in the injury s occurrence.