Post-injury posts positive

Study: Social media helps hurt AFL stars

SOCIAL media can help boost the morale of injured sports stars during their recovery, researchers have found.

Monash University research on the Twitter and Instagram activity of injured Australian Football League players has revealed that they use social media to share information about their injuries and recovery and to cheer their team on from the sidelines.

Feelings of frustration, anxiety, depression, anger and isolation are common after a player is injured, and can potentially hinder rehabilitation.

But social media offers AFL players the chance to have an unfiltered conversation with their support base.

In the past decade, social media use by young adults has risen from 12 to 90 per cent.

Monash University’s department of physiotherapy was keen to understand how injured athletes were using social media, and whether it could be used to aid their recovery.

Physiotherapist and honours student Brodie Nankervis said previous research had shown players who were out hurt often struggled to maintain their identity as athletes, largely because of isolation from their team.

He and Professor Stephen Maloney and Michael Storr analysed 317 hurt AFL players in 2015, comparing the content and frequency of Twitter and Instagram posts in the four weeks before and after injury.

Mr Nankervis said the more severe the injury, the more frequent were the posts.

Two themes recurred in post-injury posts: supporting their team from the sidelines by motivating them before the game and giving feedback after it; and sharing information about their injury and rehabilitation, and thanking people for their support.

“The findings appear to show that the players wanted to stay connected, not only with their friends, but also their fans,” Mr Nankervis said.

Geelong Football Club head physiotherapist Mark Young, a co-author of the study, said players were encouraged to consider how they approached social media when injured.

“For some players, it enables them to stay connected and update others on their progress, whereas for others it can create unwanted pressure during a difficult time,” he said.

Results of the study were published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.