The Multiply Injured versus the First-Time-Injured Athlete during Rehabilitation: A Comparison of Nonphysical Characteristics

Research on rehabilitation of multiply injured athletes shows no convincing evidence that physiological factors exclusively can explain injury-proneness in sport. Neither can any single psychological factor characterize the injury-prone athlete. Injury-proneness seems to be best explained by a complex web of extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors. The present study focused on a comparison of mental factors and coping strategies of high-level athletes with sport injuries. A psychological profile of 25 multiply injured athletes was compared to 14 first-time seriously injured athletes. Factors such as impulsiveness, risk-taking attitude, introaggression, and psychic anxiety did not differentiate multiply injured athletes from other athletes with injuries. The first-time-injured group, however, had psychological difficulties associated with long-term injuries or other serious life crises. The first-time-injured athletes tended to experience the rehabilitation period as stressful, and they showed less self-confidence and scored lower on an overall mood scale than the multiply injured athletes.