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Getting injured is both a mental and physical process
You'd be surprised by the number of factors that can play a role in injury, other than physical and environmental ones such as the 'nasty slip' or 'repetitive load'. Your personality as an athlete, the quality of your support team and how you handle things mentally also play key roles:

Physical: Your physical fitness (strength, stamina, speed) with your flexibility, core stability, and muscle balance are key factors that can either prevent or promote injuries. Your diet, quality of sleep and level of fatigue also influence your risk of injury. If any one of these physical factors are not 100% healthy, your risk of injury and illness naturally increases.

Environment: The quality of your footwear and sport-specific equipment, the surface on which you play and train, and the prevailing weather conditions also influence whether you will develop an injury. You must pay appropriate attention to these and address them ahead of time to prevent the associated risk for incident and injury.

"Hidden" Psychosocial Factors: You may not be aware that there are many psychological and social pressures, expectations and stressors that secretly work against you. Research indicates that increased daily life stress leads to greater risk of injury and/or illness. When life events cause you worry, this will affect your performance.

Further, when training expectations of yourself or a coach are excessive, then the onset of injury is more likely. In matches/games, you may begin to find that your attention wanders, your anxiety increases and so the tension in your working muscles increases. This high muscle tension and lack of concentration further increase the risk of injury.

The Stress-Injury "Traps"
To stay healthy, athletes need to be careful not to fall into some of these common psychological 'traps' where the stress you place on yourself makes injury more likely:

'I must play through the pain': The athlete believes that it is normal to play through an injury, but in doing so makes the injury worse and recovery period longer.

'It is a short career': The careers of athletes participating in high-level competition are short compared with "regular" jobs, so athletes push themselves to achieve much in a short period of time, often taking excessive risks that actually compromise their health and career success.

'Other athletes do it': Younger, less physically mature athletes often copy technique and behavior of older athletes, or role-models, who may fall into some of the injury traps mentioned, thus set an undesirable example for the younger athlete. Due to their vulnerable growing bodies, young athletes risk even more long-term damage and may sustain irreversible physical harm.

'Pressure to please others': Athletes feel direct or indirect pressure from coaches, parents and others who intentionally, accidentally, or ignorantly create an environment which influences athletes to hide or play through injuries. Athletes often take risks and potentially over-train to get approval or avoid disapproval from others. This increases the chance of injury.

'Not listening to those who support me': Listen to, discuss your injury with and be guided by your qualified health care providers. Ignoring their advice may cause delayed or incomplete healing. Trusted family and friends can also provide invaluable extra support and can help your recovery. Allow others to help you through the healing process.

Goals - Named, Aimed, and Gained:
* To motivate you through important physical training sessions, state your goals (i.e., name them) at the start of the session or exercise.
* Make sure that these are challenging, realistic and that they target good technique (i.e., well aimed - process goals).
* Then 'gain them' by working maximally to achieve each one of them through the session. The sense of achievement you gain by ticking each one off through the session will keep you motivated, focused and, most importantly, in better shape to prevent injuries occurring. This mental process of goal setting should be standard for each session of achievement.

The "Log of You": It is important that you know your limits and recognize when you may be getting sick, are under stress, or feel excessive fatigue. Keeping a "Log of You" helps detect physical and mental stress BEFORE you get sick or injured.
* You need to find the balance between challenging yourself versus overtraining.
* Overtraining can reduce your recovery and increase your risk of injury.
* To raise your self-awareness, self-confidence and ensure you train appropriately, keep a daily training diary.
* Your diary or "Log of You" notes your physical exertions, plus daily ratings of your sleep quality, mood, diet, fatigue/recovery, illness, sense of achievement, perceptions of challenge versus strain, and life stress/hassles.
* After a few weeks, review the log to see what that time period has been like for you.
* This increasing self-awareness may help you optimize your program, detect your stressors and prevent illness or injury that might have occurred if you hadn't been vigilant with yourself!
* You can also use this log book to set challenging goals for yourself on a week by week basis.

Only Supportive Team Members Allowed:
* Social support from family, friends, coaches and staff is fundamental to prevent and recover from injury.
* Seek support from those who have YOUR best interests at heart (not just their own).
* You may place high expectations on yourself, but pressurized expectations from others is a good recipe for injury and very unhealthy for your career.
* Acknowledge those on your team who are unconditionally there for you. It is these people you need to:
1. Go to when you need emotional support and advice.
2. Think about when you feel stress or pressure to make a decision that may not serve you well (e.g., training with an injury). What would they say, and what advice or support would they give you?

It's Good to TALK! Educate your Team: People are not mind readers!
* Sometimes members of your support team can be ignorant of the pressure or stress that they place upon you.
* To take control of the situation, communicate your feelings openly.
* If you are serious about staying healthy and minimizing your injury risk everybody needs to be on the same page!
* TALK to your family, coach and other team members about the work you want to do, the goals you want to reach, and the best way they can support you. This will help you reach your potential without excessive pressure.
* Agree upon the expectations, role and responsibilities for yourself, your coach and support team. This agreement is an essential step to maximize your performance in sport and minimize your risk of injury.

"Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results"
Albert Einstein

Thanks to Dr. Chris Harwood,
Sport Psychologist,
Professional Development Advisory
Panel, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour

DISCLAIMER: The contents of the Game, Set, Health site, are for informational purposes only and should not be treated as medical, psychiatric, psychological, health care or health management advice. The materials herein are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this site. Reliance on any information provided herein is solely at your own risk.

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