Physiotherapists' and male professional athletes' views on psychological skills for rehabilitation

Abstract

In the literature on the psychological aspects of rehabilitation from athletic injury, several studies in North America have focused on athletic trainers' roles as physical and psychological caregivers for injured athletes. Wiese, Weiss, and Yukelson (1991) examined the views of athletic trainers on the psychological characteristics that distinguished athletes who coped well, versus those who coped poorly with rehabilitation, and also sought athletic trainers opinions on the role of psychological skills in injury rehabilitation. This study replicated the Wiese et al. (1991) study with Australian physiotherapists and extended it to include the viewpoints of professional basketball players. The results indicated the importance attached to communication and motivation by both physiotherapists and athletes in the rehabilitation process. Both athletes and physiotherapists did not, however, think psychological skills such as relaxation or imagery techniques to be particularly useful tools in the recovery process.