ABSTRACT
Injured athletes often enter the sport injury rehabilitation process with the hopes of returning to pre-injury level of fitness and performance as rapidly and safely as possible. However, research has highlighted the need to also address the psychological consequences that injured athletes often experience, to ensure their full holistic recovery (Booher and Thibodeau, 2000). Research findings to date have suggested that injured athletes' cognitive appraisal, emotional and behavioural responses to injury can have an impact on the physical and psychological recovery outcomes (for more details, see Chapter 3). In addition, the use of psychological interventions (such as goal setting, imagery, relaxation techniques, self-talk and social support) during rehabilitation can help injured athletes in dealing with a range of psychological issues that occur as a consequence of their injuries (Beneka et al., 2007; Flint, 1998; Ievleva and Orlick, 1991; for more details on how to integrate psychological interventions during rehabilitation, see Chapters 5–10).
