Can't Get You Outta My Mind: : Honoring the psychological aspect of sports injury healing

    A significant part of helping someone heal and recover from an injury is the mental hurdle that is created by the injury itself. Even once manual therapy, directive exercise and modified activity has allowed the physical tissue to return to its pre-injury state (or better), the individual is stuck with a mindset that they are damaged. The severity or duration of the setback often parallels the magnitude of doubt and fear they face regarding whether they are truly "better" and able to perform the way they once did. Let us all honor how powerful the brain is in its key role of the healing process and return-to-play criteria. You can check off all of the physical boxes to send them back to the court/field/track/pool/etc. at full-go but have we given them the mental and emotional tools to do so? Recovery is never linear; we must be mentally equipped to handle this. This article from the NCAA highlights a couple of key components and mental skills to coping with and returning from sports injury. As the article suggests, mental coping skills are rehabilitation skills and rehabilitation skills are sport skills. No shortcuts. Honor the process.