Purpose: The purpose of this study was examine four key emotional factors—denial, pain, fear, and guilt—proposed by Heil (1999) as influential in athletes’ emotional responses to injury. It also sought to present conceptual strategies relevant to Taekwondo athletes within the context of sport culture. The goal was to provide a framework that enables coaches and sport rehabilitation professionals to manage the emotions of injured Taekwondo athletes more effectively. Method: A literature review methodology was employed to analyze theoretical frameworks related to emotional responses to sports injuries. The analysis integrated cognitive appraisal models, stage-based theories of emotional adaptation, and biopsychosocial perspectives on pain management, synthesizing findings from the fields of sport psychology, sport medicine, and behavioral medicine. Results: First, injured Taekwondo athletes exhibited a range of emotional responses throughout the injury process, which may influence rehabilitation outcomes. Second, long-term and continuous emotional management was identified as a critical factor for successful rehabilitation. Third, psychological interventions were found to be essential not only for injury prevention but also for the restoration and optimization of performance following injury. Fourth, pain, fear, and guilt played central roles in the emotional challenges experienced by injured athletes, while denial functioned as both an adaptive and maladaptive coping mechanism, depending on its context and intensity. Conclusion: The integration of psychological interventions involving coaches, medical staff, and sport psychologists may facilitate more effective emotional management and improve rehabilitation outcomes. Future research should incorporate qualitative methods to explore why some athletes struggle during rehabilitation, whereas others successfully return to high-level performance.
Kim et al. (Sat,) studied this question.