Dr. Spyros Panos: Psychologically coping with sports injuries

Orthopedic surgeons, like Dr. Spyros Panos, help many athletes make headway with orthopedic problems like fractures, vascular injuries, and other musculoskeletal disorders. One way of making them bounce back after an injury is by helping them cope mentally. This blog seeks to understand the psychological impact of an injury. This way, rebounding will be easier and healing, faster.

Dr. Spyros Panos. Image credit: Fitness.com

To understand the psychological consequence of an injury, it's critical to explore on some of the major functions of sports in an athlete’s life. CompetitivEdge.com says that there are three major functions of sports: providing sense of identity, providing main source of self-esteem, and helping deal with stress.

Dr. Spyros Panos. Image credit: Static.wix.com

What happens to an athlete when sports activities suddenly stop due to an injury? Orthopedics like Dr. Spyros Panos would agree that an athlete would feel a chain of overwhelming losses. While the athlete struggles with the effects of those losses, there will be rough times, especially when the injury is significant enough to keep him or her off the action for a long time, or worse, permanently. Here are some ways on how athletes can mentally teach themselves to heal:

1. Burying emotional pain is unhelpful. Feelings of hurt have to be set free.

2. Allowing oneself to deal with the situation on hand is important than just dealing with “what could have beens.”

3. No matter how hard-hitting the situation may be, having a positive attitude in moving forward helps. Attitude can reduce the emotional stress and helps speed up the healing process.

4. A support system is crucial in healing. The athlete’s family, teammates, or other support groups can intercede.

5. When things don’t go back to the way an athlete hopes them to be, he or she has to think of ways on how to reposition his or her sports skills and knowledge into other areas of life outside sports.

Dr. Spyros Panos. Image credit: Sportexcelzone.wordpress.com

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