When an athlete gets injured, whether it be a short-term or long-term rehabilitation and recovery, many new issues and stressors arise. The psychological factors play a key role in the length of time to recovery. Supporting both physical and psychological recovery in injured athletes is crucial, as research demonstrates that personality traits, fear of re-injury, and loss of interest all affect an athlete’s ability to return to play successfully1. The fear of re-injury is the leading reason for failure to return to competitive sport2. It has been established that return to play cannot be predicted by objective physical improvement post-surgery alone3, so why are teams still considering physical benchmarks to determine when a player can return to their sport?
Oftentimes, the health and performance staff, in conjunction with the sports medicine physician and orthopedic surgeon, determine when a player is “cleared” to come back into the game. Given all........