The implementation of a model for the rehabilitation of sports injuries

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The present study was undertaken with the aim of developing and implementing a model for therehabilitation of sports injuries. Injury is, without a doubt, one of the most significant obstacles toathletic performance. Very few, if any, athletes escape injury and it seems that regardless ofexperience and ability, all physically active individuals are prone to injury at some stage of theircareers. The ability to resist injury and to rehabilitate well when injury does occur is fundamental tolongevity in sport.Previous injury rehabilitation interventions commonly addressed only the physiological dimensionsof injury, excluding the psychological dimensions. Only very recently has there been a shift in focusto include psychological principles in the treatment procedures, with Heil (1993) and Pargman(1993a) some of the first authors to publish works on the subject.A comprehensive literature review was done. In the first chapter attention was paid to the role ofpersonality in injury occurrence and rehabilitation outcome, with special emphasis on the model ofstress and athletic injury of Andersen and Williams (1993). An extension to this model, taking intoaccount the role of personality, coping resources, cognitions, interventions and other injury andtreatment related factors in the rehabilitation process was added by Grove (1993).The next chapter was devoted to the causes and stresses of sports injuries. Topics that were coveredinclude the over-training syndrome, understanding injuries from the athlete's, physician's andpsychologist's points of view and a study of what exactly the stresses involved in athletic injury are.Special attention was paid to the concept of pain and all its dimensions, the social well-being of theinjured athlete and the impact of injury on the athlete's self-concept and identity.In the following chapter psychological adjustment to athletic injury was discussed. The concepts ofloss and grief and applicability of grief response models in particular were discussed. In response togrief response models, cognitive appraisal models (Brewer, 1994) and an integrated model byWiese-Bjomstal et al. (1998) were also discussed. Attention was given to the factors associated withrehabilitation adherence with particular remarks on malingering athletes. Peer modelling as acoping strategy in injury rehabilitation also came under scrutiny, as did the role and effect of socialsupport.The next chapter focused on the development of the service-provider model for sports injuryrehabilitation. From the initial literature review it was clear that of all the treatment providersinvolved with injured athletes, physiotherapists and biokineticians (athletic trainers) are probablythose who spend the most time with them. In the development of the model for injury rehabilitation,special emphasis was therefore placed on the role of the physiotherapist and biokineticians. As abasis for developing the model, the traditional medical model was used, but it was adapted toincorporate psychological principles. A computer program was written to assist physiotherapistsand biokineticians in treating injured athletes through the use of psychological principles. Thisprogram was constructed using psychological instruments that already exist, but they were adaptedto be used as non-pen and paper tests. The tests used were the Emotional Responses of Athletes toInjury Questionnaire (ERAIQ), the Incredibly Short POMS (ISP), a Pain Drawing Instrument, aVisual Analogue Scale and the Affective subscale of the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Provision wasmade for handouts to be included in the program which can then be given to patients after eachtherapy session.To be able to determine whether the program was successful in assisting physiotherapists andbiokineticians in their treatment of injured athletes, the program was evaluated in the next chapter.Feedback from both patients, physiotherapists and biokineticians using the program were received.Two short questionnaires were used for this purpose.Finally, conclusions were drawn from the information received from the program andrecommendations based on these conclusions were made.Key words: Sports injuries, injury rehabilitation.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University