Working with sports teams and injured athletes

Within the first semester, the lecture “working with sports teams” and “working with injured athletes” appealed to me the most. I have worked with sports teams before and have seen different clubs and how they work. As a physio you often do not have the strongest voice for suggestions regarding the team. But being the one that often spend one to one session with the athletes leads to conversations regarding how they feel and experience the team. Therefore, I feel that I can do a change here and help the athletes both physically and psychologically, and report anonymously what the athletes tell me to the rest of the team. Regarding the lecture “working within sports teams”, I instantly reflected on this and how I can make a change if I end up working as a physio for a sport team. As a physio you are often responsible for the medical area, but I believe that the physio also can be a part of the team’s environment, structure, process, and outcomes. This lecturer talked about team-building, something that is very important within all sports teams, and definitely a task a physio can help with.

I am sure that the second lecture that appealed to me, “working with injured athletes”, was because I am a physio. Working with injured individuals is what a physio does, and gaining more knowledge regarding the psychological issues underpinning injury in sports were exactly what I wanted to learn more about. I remember the lecturer talking about personal issues in working with injured athletes, and then mentioning the BPS’s 4 ethical principles: Respect, Competence, Responsibility, Integrity. I believe that these principles also align within the physiotherapy profession. Learning about these ethical principles, have reminded me of the importance of confidentiality and have helped me reflect on what my role is, what I can help with, and when to refer. I remember thinking about who is there for the athletes when they for example get injured; what kind of team they have that support the athletes through their journey of injury (sporting organisations, doctors, physios, sports psychologist etc). I know that not many sports clubs in Norway have a sports psychologist, and therefore I might have a stronger chance to be the selected candidate for a job as I have a MSc in Sports and Exercise Psychology next to my physiotherapy bachelor.

An athlete who is injured might experience psychological challenges, and I have always wanted to help them with this but felt that I did not have the competence. Within this lecture there was two models mentioned regarding injury response. Learning about these made me reflect on what I can bring of knowledge from this course into my future career. Several factors that influence recovery outcomes of injuries were mentioned. This made me think as a physio of what I can do to both help prevent and increase satisfaction of the rehabilitation process of the athletes that are injured and not able to do their sport until the injury has healed properly. Additionally, there are several phases of recovery after an injury: onset, rehabilitation, return to competitive sport, and injury prevention. The roles of a physio compared with a sports psychologist is different, but a combination of physiotherapy and psychological interventions could improve the physical outcomes (Alexanders & Douglas, 2016; Wilson & Cramp, 2018). Therefore, learning about what the role of a sports psychologist is in the various phases of injury could help improve my work with the athletes I treat as I can combine this knowledge and treat the athletes psychologically as well.

References

Alexanders, J., & Douglas, C. (2016). The role of psychological skills within physiotherapy: A narrative review of the profession and training. Physical Therapy Reviews, 21(3–6), 222–227. https://doi.org/10.1080/10833196.2016.1274352

Wilson, S., & Cramp, F. (2018). Combining a psychological intervention with physiotherapy: A systematic review to determine the effect on physical function and quality of life for adults with chronic pain. Physical Therapy Reviews, 23(3), 214–226. https://doi.org/10.1080/10833196.2018.1483550