Self-regulatory skills: Are they helpful in the prevention of overuse injuries in talented tennis players?

Abstract

Talented athletes use metacognitive skills to improve their performance. Also, it is known that these skills are important for managing one's health. The goal of this study was to identify the relationship between metacognitive skills and overuse injuries in talented tennis players. Metacognitive skills were measured in 73 talented tennis players (45 boys and 28 girls, age 11-14) at the start of the season, using the Self-Regulation of Learning Self-Report Scale. Overuse injuries were monitored for one season using the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre Questionnaire on Health Problems. Ordinal regression indicated that moderate or low selfmonitoring skills (compared to high selfmonitoring) (OR 4.555, CI 1.096-18.927, P=0.037) and exposure time (OR 1.380, CI 1.106-1.721, P=0.004) were associated with more time loss overuse injuries. A second analysis showed that this was the case in girls (OR 10.757, CI 1.845-62.714, P=0.008), but not in boys. Linear regression revealed that higher reflection scores and exposure time predicted overuse severity (F(5,58)=2.921, P=0.020, R2 =0.201). Possibly, selfmonitoring can help players to prevent themselves from time loss overuse injuries. Coaches should be aware that players can differ in selfmonitoring ability and thus in the ability to prevent overuse injuries. The role of reflection needs more research.