Behavioral Responses to Injury

An occupational hazard of being an athlete, unfortunately, is the possibility of injury. Injuries are complex biopsychosocial phenomena that tend to produce cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses. Today we will look at some of the helpful and unhelpful behavioral responses to injury. We can split these into two categories: problem-focused behaviors and emotion-focused behaviors.

• Problem-focused behaviors

  • Adherence to rehab

  • Seeking social support

  • Learning more about the mechanism of injury

  • Spending rehab time building new skills

  • Seeking alternative treatments

• Emotion-focused behaviors:

  • Avoiding rehab

  • Isolation

  • Turning to substances

  • Engaging in disordered eating

If you've had an injury before, consider: what problem-focused behaviors was I engaging in? How about emotion-focused behaviors? Did they help or hurt my recovery? What behaviors may I add to this list?