Rare is the sportsman, whether professional or amateur, who has not been injured on occasion. Injuries can occur during a competition, in a workout or even outside of it (at work, in our own home) … But if they all have one thing in common is that they disrupt the planning and the season of the athlete.

When it comes to overcoming an injury it is vital that we turn to different professionals who can help us: from the general practitioner to the specialists, also passing by physiotherapists in the rehabilitation period. But not only professionals and medical techniques can help us recover from an injury: you and your attitude to it have a lot to say.

An injury is a nuisance, look at it where you look at it: it forces you to change your training schedule, maybe it makes you lose competitions, it makes you stop training for a while when you already have the habit of doing it and you have integrated it into your life Daily … What can we do ourselves in the face of this situation?

Institute of Sports Studies, we talk about the psychological components of sports injuries and also three different ways of facing them on the part of the athlete: denial, anguish and, most useful, confrontation and acceptance of the same.

Acceptance and adaptation from optimism: keys to recovery after injury

Accept that the injury is part, from the moment we suffer, the life of the athlete and adapt to that new situation is basic to facilitate recovery and keep us away from the sport as short as possible. Seeing the necessary period of rehabilitation and rest after injury as a learning opportunity is one of the best assets we can play if we must spend some time without moving.

Facing the injury with a positive attitude favors the patient to collaborate with the doctors during the rehabilitation , putting the necessary means to recover quickly. In addition, the patient with a positive attitude is more open to try complementary sports, to perform exercises that help in that rehabilitation or to try complementary exercises (for example, electrostimulation) that favor recovery.

During a period of injury it is also important that we be able to reorganize and reshape our training and competition schedule, being aware that we have to reformulate the goals that we had created before the injury. Establishing small mid- and short-term goals in rehabilitation is important to keep us motivated and keep working.

Finally, respecting the rest times stipulated by professionals and making a gradual return to physical exercise is very important to make sure that our injury has healed properly and to avoid unnecessary relapses.

How did you feel if you ever got injured? Have you been able to maintain a positive attitude towards the injury?