Fear Avoidance After Injury and Readiness to Return to Sport in Collegiate Male and Female Gaelic Games Players.

Sports Health

Centre for Injury Prevention and Performance, Athletic Therapy and Training, School of Health and Human Performance, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.

Published: November 2021

Background: Injuries are common in collegiate Gaelic games, and negative psychological responses to injury, such as fear avoidance and a lack of psychological readiness to return to sport, can affect players during their rehabilitation and their subsequent return to sport. Thus, identifying these responses in players can allow clinicians to address these issues during rehabilitation. This study aimed to examine fear avoidance and psychological readiness to return to sport in collegiate Gaelic games players.

Hypothesis: Collegiate Gaelic games players will experience similar levels of fear avoidance and psychological readiness to return to sport as other adult athletes.

Study Design: Cohort study.

Level Of Evidence: Level 3.

Methods: Male (n = 150) and female (n = 76) players from 1 Irish collegiate institution were recruited. Players that were injured over 1 collegiate season completed the Athlete Fear Avoidance Questionnaire (AFAQ) immediately after the injury and the Injury-Psychological Readiness to Return to Sport (I-PRRS) Scale once cleared to return to sport. An injury report form was also completed. The overall AFAQ (sum of 10 items) and I-PRRS (sum of 6 items/10) scores were calculated.

Results: Seventy-three injuries (n = 73) occurred, and injured players had a mean overall AFAQ and I-PRRS score of 22.6 ± 5.3 and 46.4 ± 8.8, respectively. Just less than half (47.9%) of players were deemed psychologically unready to return to sport when cleared physically. After severe injuries, significantly higher overall AFAQ scores than mild injuries ( = 0.01) and lower overall I-PRRS than moderate injuries ( < 0.0001) was noted. For the overall scores, no gender differences were observed.

Conclusion: Fear avoidance and lowered confidence levels before return to sport occurs in collegiate Gaelic games players similar to other student-athletes.

Clinical Relevance: Identification of fear avoidance or low readiness to return to sport, particularly after serious injury, is important to implement psychosocial support during their rehabilitation.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8558997PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1941738121999047DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

return sport
40
fear avoidance
28
readiness return
24
gaelic games
20
collegiate gaelic
16
games players
12
psychological readiness
12
return
10
sport
10
players
9

Similar Publications

Achilles tendon overuse injuries are common for long-distance runners. Ankle exos (exoskeletons and exosuits) are wearable devices that can reduce Achilles tendon loading and could potentially aid in the rehabilitation or prevention of these injuries by helping to mitigate and control tissue loading. However, most ankle exos are confined to controlled lab testing and are not practical to use in real-world running.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Distal triceps tendon injuries are relatively rare injuries, often occurring in highly active patients with physically demanding jobs or lifestyles. Information on return to work, sport, and activity is essential for patient education and counseling after a distal triceps tendon rupture.

Purpose: To determine the rates of return to work, sport, and sport-related activity after distal triceps tendon repair.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Continued advancements in cartilage surgery and an accumulating body of evidence warrants a contemporary synthesis of return to sport (RTS) outcomes to provide updated prognostic data and to better understand treatment response.

Purpose: To perform an updated systematic review of RTS in athletes after knee cartilage restoration surgery.

Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 4.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Muscle Rehabilitation Techniques and Prevention of Injury.

Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract

January 2025

Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Equine Orthopaedic Research Center, 2250 Gillette Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.

Rehabilitation following muscle injury is critical in restoring the equine athlete to full function. Rehabilitation protocols should be tailored to each patient's global functional assessment, taking into account sports-specific demands, goals for return-to-performance, and overall prognosis. Rehabilitation protocols are often designed to modulate pain, enhance repair, improve proprioception, increase flexibility, restore muscle strength, joint range-of-motion, and neuromotor control.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Mental fatigue is referred to as a psychophysiological or neurobiological state caused by prolonged periods of demanding cognitive activity. Sports and exercise science research have investigated the effects of experimentally induced mental fatigue on cognitive performance, with mixed results. It has been suggested that negative effects of mental fatigue on cognition performance in laboratory studies could translate to impaired sport performance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!