ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the psychosocial antecedents and consequences of sport injury for high-level athletes. It discusses the research and theory related to the psychosocial antecedents of sport injury. The chapter addresses two types of sport injury that warrant special consideration related to athletes’ psychosocial health: spinal cord injuries, and concussions. The issue of playing through pain and injury has recently garnered mainstream attention due to the recognition of concussions as a serious health threat for athletes. A powerful reminder of the psychosocial pull felt by athletes to play through pain and injury is the perspective of a young field-hockey player who blacked out during a game after being hit in the head with an opponent’s stick. The more severe an injury to an athlete’s body, the greater the implications for psychosocial health. Common negative psychosocial consequences of injury include loss of identity, fears associated with missing time and/or returning to play, and social isolation.
