‘What does not kill us can make us stronger’: can we use injury experience as an opportunity to help athletes and their teams engage in injury risk reduction?

• Published in: BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine Vol. 8; no. 2; p. e001359
• Main Authors: Edouard, Pascal, Bolling, Caroline, Chapon, Joris, Verhagen, Evert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2022; BMJ Publishing Group LTD; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Athletes; Athletics; Dictionaries; Editorial; Editorials; Education; Health care; Implementation; Injury prevention; Learning; Medical personnel; Rehabilitation; Sports; Sports injuries; Success; Teams; Education; Athletics; Implementation
• ISSN: 2055-7647; 2055-7647
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001359

Injury experience as an opportunity period to learn Injuries, while considered negative experiences, can also be regarded as a lesson in both senses of the Cambridge Dictionary’s definitions: ‘an experience that teaches you how to behave better in a similar situation in the future’ and ‘a period of time in which a person is taught about a subject or how to do something’.4 An injury has direct consequences on an athlete’s sports practice, leading to reduced availability for training and competition and a reduced ability to perform optimally.5 6 Such consequences will highlight for athletes and their supporting teams the value of staying healthy to allow sustainable sports practice.7 Sustaining an injury has been reported as the main motivating factor to engage in injury risk reduction approach.7 8 Injury risk reduction behaviour has been reported as a learning process influenced by athletes’ experience and learnings from previous injuries.7 8 Thus, it seems that after an injury, athletes may better understand the relevance of risk reduction approaches and programmes, become easier motivated to follow those and be more attentive to health professionals.7 8 An injury experience could thus represent a fertile ground to learn about injury and optimal athletic health. Education of athletes During the rehabilitation and return to sports process, there can be potential for health professionals with the help of training staff to help athletes to understand better how their bodies work,8 improve their ability to listen to their bodies (eg, pain and fatigue),7 know their capabilities and limits7 and learn warning signals to improve self-efficacy in their daily practice. Since the body changes with training and time, such understanding is a continuous learning process throughout their athletics career.7 In addition, this period seems appropriate to educate athletes to have an active voice and express their feelings and opinions to their teams.7 8 10 Education of the team: together with a common goal An injury could be an opportunity to (re)engage athletes and their teams in a common project/goal.