Football: Injury Prevention and Injury management

Case Study: Football: Injury Prevention and Injury management

Case Study

Football: Injury Prevention and Injury management

Introduction

The utility of Hobfoll's (1988) conservation of resources theory was examined during a series of in-depth interviews conducted were mainly from football, surfing, swimming, rugby, hockey, kungfu aged between 18 to 31. Although exploratory in nature, this investigation identified a number of resources affected by injury and potential benefits that socially supportive behaviors can provide to athletes during the rehabilitation process. Content analysis of interview data indicated that resources such as physical health, finances, mobility/ independence, self-perception, self-esteem, achievements, and social roles were lost, threatened, or improved as a consequence of injury. In turn, support involving encouragement, reassurance, advice, maintaining involvement, personal assistance, and financial assistance may have covered lost or diminished resources or helped to recruit latent resources, thus reducing the stress experienced by the athletes.

For athletes, any physical impairment that prohibits active involvement in their sport, whether temporary or permanent, can be cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally challenging (Pedersen, 1986). In addition to the physical losses, decreases in physical conditioning, and changes in lifestyle experienced as a result of decreased participation in sport, there is an abrupt cessation or deprivation of positive experiences acquired through exercise and competition (Smith, Scott, & Wiese, 1990; Williams & Roepke, 1993). Indeed, injury threatens an athlete's self-concept, belief system, social and occupational functioning, values, commitments, and emotional equilibrium (Petitpas & Danish, 1995).

The experience of loss in athletes has been discussed in terms of Peretz's (1970) model (Astle, 1986; Brewer, 1994; McDonald & Hardy, 1990), which proposes that loss occurs across four dimensions: (a) loss of a significant loved or valued person, (b) loss of some aspect of self, (c) loss of external objects, and (d) developmental loss. While the most common form of loss experienced through injury tends to be loss of some aspect of self, such as loss of identity or sense of importance (Brewer, 1994), injured athletes are prone to suffering all four. To illustrate, the following experiences can be compromised by injury: mobility, independence, sense of control, confidence, virility, daily routine, social ties, opportunities, income and financial rewards, status, playing time, and attention (McDonald & Hardy, 1990; Petitpas & Danish, 1995).

Part A

Although Peretz's (1970) model explains the concept of loss and athletic injury, Hobfoll's (1988) conservation of resources (COR) theory offers an alternative analysis on the effect of athletic injury and the consequences for addressing problems encountered. COR theory suggests that promotion of well-being and prevention of stress depend on the availability and successful management of resources. When resources are lacking, lost, or invested without consequent gain, people become vulnerable to psychological and physical disorders and debilitated functioning (Hobfoll & Jackson, 1991). This theory emphasizes objective definitions of person-environment transactions likely to result in psychological distress rather than the more common cognitive appraisal approach to understanding stressful events (Hobfoll, 1988).

Within the COR model, stress is defined as "a reaction to the environment in which there is a perceived threat of a net loss ...