ABSTRACT
When you hear the term “sports injury,” what comes to mind? Athletes hobbling on crutches, slow motion replays of gnarly collisions, medics rushing onto a field, and so on? Historically, this has been the domain of the medical professions, with a duty to assess the damage, repair it, and send athletes back out to compete again. Sport Medicine has developed as a distinct specialization and there have been thousands of research studies devoted to identifying the best treatments, surgical techniques, and rehabilitation programs. Yet, injury remains one of sport's biggest problems, from grassroot levels right up through professional leagues, and it's one of the most common reasons people stop playing. There's been growing acknowledgment that there are important psychological factors that contribute to injury risk and rehabilitation, and that the mental toll of such injuries can have lifelong consequences. This introductory chapter highlights the emergence of sport injury psychology as an essential part of athlete care alongside traditional medical approaches. It also argues for the inclusion of multiple perspectives when taking stock of what we know and what remains to be discovered in this area, setting the scene for an approachable and applied look at injury psychology through the rest of the book.
