Sport psychologists are becoming fully integrated members of the world's best sports medicine teams, involved in all aspects of athlete care including injury prevention, assessment and rehabilitation. Whether you have access to a sport psychologist or not, the following are some tips to help you, or those close to you, in coping with a difficult sport injury. Maintain a positive, yet realistic, attitude about injury diagnosis and treatment options. Make sincere efforts to understand how the athlete interprets the meaning of the injury, avoiding careless assumptions. This knowledge defines the scope of the loss, and sincere empathy goes a long way toward recovery.
Social support protects against many negative effects of stress.
The athlete should stay in touch with friends, family, and teammates on a regular basis. Successful performance imagery should be used to keep skills and strategies sharp, even when real practice is impossible. Regular imagery can also be targeted to help defeat the fear of re-injury. You will receive notification each month of changes at the Tennis Server and news of new Mental Equipment columns. This column is copyright 1996 by John F. Murray, all rights reserved.