The Yips: Strategies for Interdisciplinary Assessment and Treatment

The “yips” is a psycho-neuromuscular phenomenon involving the sudden disruption of a previously automatic sport skill, often seen in sports requiring precise, repetitive movements (e.g., golf, baseball, tennis, darts). Symptoms may include tremors, jerks, freezing, or loss of fine motor control. Current literature suggests the yips exist along a continuum involving both psychological factors (e.g., anxiety, perfectionism, performance pressure) and neurological components such as task-specific dystonia. Given the variability in presentation, effective assessment and management often require interdisciplinary collaboration. This paper reviews the yips literature and proposes interdisciplinary strategies for supporting affected athletes.