You are probably going to dislike this module. What researchers find, is that we can often predict who will be injured. The key is stress. Sports are stressful and unpredictable. We value our performances in them. Therefore, we are going to be more stressed than when we do an activity that doesn’t matter as much to us. Let’s jump in and explore stress and how stress is linked to injury.
The Stress Response
First, let’s clarify some terms that we hear when talking about stress. As you read this, be thinking back to the fight-or-flight response you learned in elementary or middle school.
The Stress-Injury Model
Stress is the most consistent antecedent of athletic injury. Look at this model below. It is the foundation of understanding sport injury risk. There are some variations and other approaches to it, but this is the basics you need to know.
Ultimately, higher stress during a performance is thought to increase risk of injury by changing mental and physical aspects of performance. As we mentioned earlier, when you are relaxed in practice, you perform differently than when you are stressed. Let’s look closer at some of the points on this chart.
👈 Toggle to Complete Activity | Stress Assessment
