Mental scars of injury take longer to heal — psychology expert

THE correlation between stress and injury is one that has led to calls for a greater emphasis on athlete mental welfare.

JCU professor of health psychology James Dimmock said in professional sport the desire to return from injury quickly or before athletes were mentally prepared could lead to further concerns in the short term.

During the pandemic, NRL and AFL athletes were subjected to the “COVID bubble”, restricting their ability to interact beyond the inner circle of their respective clubs.

Rugby league stars Reagan Campbell-gillard and Coen Hess have spoken about those concerns since emerging from the bubble’s confinement.

That in itself, and not being able to access support networks typically available to them, can lead to heightened stress, and Dimmock said it was something sporting bodies needed to consider.

“In sports like rugby where you often need quite a wide attentional sphere you need to be able to see contact coming,” he said.

“Stress narrows our vision field and attentional field, so if we’re highly stressed we’re not likely to see that tackle that comes from the side. We don’t ride it or brace for it and it increases our chance of injury.

“I think sport does a relatively poor job of understanding and giving appropriate consideration to psychological factors.”

The WNBL season will take the form of a hub, operating between Townsville, Cairns and Mackay.

This in turn will present more freedoms for the players as the campaign continues.

But with 60 fixtures to be fitted into just six weeks, the added workload could hinder players’ fitness should they not be managed accordingly.

Any rush to get back on the court could present further concerns moving forward.

“I think there’s always been a temptation in the athlete’s world to overemphasise physical health and readiness to play,” Dimmock said.

“With return to sport from injury, for instance, I think there’s a strong focus on physical readiness to return but less is considered in relation to an athlete’s psychological readiness to return.

“Loads and loads of athletes who get physical clearance to return are not necessarily psychologically ready to return. They have doubts that can undermine their return and (make them) susceptible to re-injure it.”