How may psychological support from an athletic trainer impact male collegiate athletes return to play outcomes?
Presentation Type
Abstract
Faculty Advisor
Fredrick Gardin
Access Type
Event
Start Date
25-4-2025 10:30 AM
End Date
25-4-2025 11:29 AM
Description
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to recognize predominant psychological themes in collegiate athletes during injury recovery and highlight the importance an Athletic Trainer has on psychological factors through injury rehabilitation. Background: Return to play protocol must be completed by every collegiate athlete after injury though often psychological and physical readiness are not synonymous. The athletic trainer has influence over psychological and physical readiness and with recognition of common psychological deterrents, the athletic trainer and team physician can confidently return an athlete to competition. Methods: A review of literature was conducted using the PubMed database. Keywords searched included psychological factors, psychosocial factors, return to play, post-injury confidence and stress. Results: The primary psychological themes seen in post-injury collegiate athletes were hesitation, heightened awareness of injury, depression and treatment adherence problems. The top psychosocial strategies suggested to the athletic trainer are keeping the athlete involved with the team, creating diverse and unique rehabilitation exercises and using quantitative psychosocial outcome measures. Athletic trainers are with an injured athlete more than any other health professional in the collegiate setting. The importance of post injury psychological issue identification and psychosocial rehabilitation strategies are significant for an athletic trainer and can increase an athlete’s readiness for return to competition.
How may psychological support from an athletic trainer impact male collegiate athletes return to play outcomes?
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to recognize predominant psychological themes in collegiate athletes during injury recovery and highlight the importance an Athletic Trainer has on psychological factors through injury rehabilitation. Background: Return to play protocol must be completed by every collegiate athlete after injury though often psychological and physical readiness are not synonymous. The athletic trainer has influence over psychological and physical readiness and with recognition of common psychological deterrents, the athletic trainer and team physician can confidently return an athlete to competition. Methods: A review of literature was conducted using the PubMed database. Keywords searched included psychological factors, psychosocial factors, return to play, post-injury confidence and stress. Results: The primary psychological themes seen in post-injury collegiate athletes were hesitation, heightened awareness of injury, depression and treatment adherence problems. The top psychosocial strategies suggested to the athletic trainer are keeping the athlete involved with the team, creating diverse and unique rehabilitation exercises and using quantitative psychosocial outcome measures. Athletic trainers are with an injured athlete more than any other health professional in the collegiate setting. The importance of post injury psychological issue identification and psychosocial rehabilitation strategies are significant for an athletic trainer and can increase an athlete’s readiness for return to competition.
Comments
Poster presentation at the 2025 Student Research Symposium.