Psychological Factors in Sports Injury Rehabilitation: How Can a Sports Rehabilitation Practitioner Facilitate Communication?

Abstract

SYNOPSIS: Communication, goal setting, and shared decision making are possible tools to address psychological components of rehabilitation process after a sports injury. The nature and quality of interactions between sports rehabilitation practitioners and athletes may have a profound impact on athletes’ emotional processes. High-quality communication between sports rehabilitation practitioners and injured athletes is always referred to, yet rarely specified. Our purpose was to outline a proposed definition of high-quality communication. We propose the “Winning 11 of Communication,” consisting of the following: show respect and empathy, be genuine, be transparent, be concrete, check perceptions, have emotional intelligence, get specific, listen before you fix, value patient input, listen for the “but,” and cooperate. To have the communication skills to establish an environment where the injured athletes feel cared for is one important part to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes of rehabilitation. JOSPT Open 2024;2(1):1-3. Epub 4 October 2023. doi:10.2519/josptopen.2023.0007