Coping With Injury: How High Performance Athletes Mitigate the Biopsychosocial Consequences of Sports Injury

Abstract

In this paper, I examined various coping methods that high-performance athletes use to recover from injury in order to determine if further research is warranted. To meet the research purpose of this paper, literature available on coping mechanisms that injured high-performance athletes use to recover from their injuries was reviewed, with a focus on discussions about sports’ injury statistics, stressors, coping theories, intervention, and consequences for not coping with injury properly. Furthermore, conclusions drawn from the review were provided, as well as recommendations for future inquiry on meeting injured athletes’ coping needs. Overall, it appears that enough information is not currently available to cover the magnitude of coping mechanisms being used by injured high-performance athletes to recover from their sport related injuries. Additionally, Researchers are still searching for a comprehensive coping theory that will address the coping needs of high- performance injured athletes. Gaining a good understanding of the coping needs of high-performance athletes will aid medical personnel, athletic trainers, and other care givers to provide better care that is germane to the needs of high-performance athletes seeking to recover from their sports’ related injuries. Discussions in this paper also help to identify the emerging literature available on coping mechanisms injured athletes use to recover from injuries.