Anterior Operative Techniques in Sports Athlete Medicine - Term Paper Example

APPLIED SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY Introduction This study illustrates the coping strategies and emotional factors that are used a senior professional player of rugby as they are rehabilitated from the anterior cruciate ligament. Rugby is a high intensity and fast-moving team sport; historically the game has been dominated by men, but currently the competition is getting popularity among the ladies. As many as one out of four rugby players gets injured while playing or in a training session in a particular season. Each player averages twenty to forty tackles in every match (Gorgievski and Stephan, 2013). More than twenty-five percent of the injuries to rugby players occur at the start of the season. Thus, a preseason conditioning is critical in reducing injuries to the players and helping the players start the season while being fully prepared as they begin the playing after the long break. The injury prevention strategies are imperative in reducing the incidences cost and the severity of the rugby injuries that may entail the defensive skills and the right falling techniques. Senior rugby players suffer injuries of anterior cruciate ligament, which is a joint major knee injury while playing (Gibelman and Whiting, 2009). While playing a player may tear one of the four ligaments, leading to instability of the players as they play. Most of the players in the senior category have ages ranging from eighteen years to early thirties. There are various ways of treating such injuries. One of the rehabilitation programs in the physical therapy where before the treatment is administered the casualty is encouraged to strengthen hamstrings and quadriceps together with performing ROM exercises (Fridén, 2010). The ROM exercises will help in reducing the amount of effusion and will make the patient regain the strength and the motion. There is another rehabilitation program where surgery is done to rectify the problem, but there are some precautions that are taken before performing the operation. The physician considers the following factors: pre-injury activity level, associated injuries, abnormal laxity, patients expectations and the patient’s desire to regain the shape to high demand sports. Theories of treatment of anterior cruciate ligament and intervention The cognitive appraisal theories of injury rehabilitation shows that the personal interpretation of the extent of the injury has significant impact to the rugby player’s cognitive, behavioural and the emotional responses (Doyle, Gleeson and Rees, 2008). Situational factors and the dispositional factors have emotional reactions to various sports injuries and particularly variations in tender stages of the in determining effective responses at different stages of the injury process. The secondary and the primary appraisals vary in accordance with the situational and personal factors of the injured player, but there are ambient relationships between the two and the coping strategies. When a player is subjected to unhelpful strategies of coping develops greater amount of stress when injured and it is advisable that the social support that is given to the injured player should be aiding the player’s recovery and reduce the negative appraisal. The problem directed coping in concerned with the controlling the reactions of emotions and avoiding the coping will be concerned with the cognitive changes and evade the situation through the distraction or diversion. There are various phases of depending on the stage of an injury (Bjornaraa, 2012). Initial Phase Many players respond to the injury with some shock and disbelief; this is triggered or worsened by the delay of diagnosis and the result of the sport. At this state, the player is normally in great fears of the worst since the result may turn to be an extreme case that can ruin their professional career. The players suffer a lot of the negative emotions (Reviewers for Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2009). The injured player has a lot of difficulty in coping up with the new lifestyle of being injured where one will intend to continue with the normal lifestyle they are not in a position to do so. There is a lot of depression and frustration to the injured player. Thus, a proper management is highly required so as to ensure that the player can rehabilitate well and prevent them from being depressed. These frustrations are as a result of the worries of the career, the lack of chances of getting the playing time and the time one will miss while nursing the injuries. The emotions are very high immediately after the injury, but they will reduce as the time goes and are slowly replaced by the positive emotions. The players are highly encouraged to accept the injury so as to focus on the recovery process (Leech, 2013). This scenario makes the further rehabilitation programs to be done effectively and with a lot of ease as compared when the patient has not accepted the injury. When an athlete receives the injury, information regarding the further treatment and rehabilitation is sought which leads to timely recovery. Pre-surgery phase Both problem-focused and the emotion-focused coping strategies are coupled together in this stage. The application of problem-focused aids the athlete to have the control of their rehabilitation and the recovery to return to the competitive sport (Lakens, 2014). The social support is an important vehicle for the enhancement of the well-being of the athlete and those who have great levels of the social assistance seem to fare well as compared to the others who are not getting the social support. Thus, injured rugby player will require a greater social support so as to recover fast and better. Once the patient gets the emotional support, the rehabilitation process becomes simple and with less stress and frustration. Again, not all people can be able to give the social support, it is only the skilled personnel who can efficiently offer those services and get to reach and heal the emotions of the rugby player. Post surgery Phase The usual response to the surgery is relief and belief that everything had been done they way that it was expected, and they are comforted that they will soon get back on the track and start their regular duties. Though the knee remains with some soreness and tenderness after the surgery, it makes the injured player have some worries. After the surgery, the vital concern the injured player is normally the desire to themselves in a rehabilitation program that will usher them to the track again (Shelbourne and Rowdon, 2011). The avoidance and the problem-focused strategies are very critical at this stage. The problem-focused approach increases the exercise adherence. Again the avoidance strategy happens where the patient will try to avoid any situation that can bring out negative emotions from dominating one’s life. The athletes are encouraged to have their complete rehabilitation before turning back to the usual business. The complete reconstruction will enable the injured rugby player to regain their shape and fitness so as to be a competitive while back in the field. Early participation phase The injured rugby player gets encouragement from the observation of the process of the rehabilitation process. The player gets relief when they start engaging in some activity again. There are some noticeable improvement and the increase of much recovery. This stage helps the player to regain confidence and hope of getting back to competitive duty, and the fear of injuring again may not worry the player anymore. The only fear that accompanies the recovering rugby player is the possibility of failure to completely recover (Stanitski, 2008). At this stage, the player should not rush back to the competitive level as this can renew the injury, the players should be sensitized to the dangers of rushing back. This rushing can trigger the reinjury that will mean the player will not make their re-debut anytime soon after injury. At this stage also there is an application of the avoidance and the problem-focused strategies to avoid the great concern of their injuries and focus on the positive emotional factors. Late participation phase In the rehabilitation, there is normally an aspect of experiencing the positive and negative emotion in the whole process. The injured rugby player should get the most influential positive encouragement so as to recover well and with fewer frustrations and stress. The player should be subjected to conditions that illicit enjoyment, increased motivation and positive experiences (Triner and Turner, 2010). When the players observe the progressions, they feel motivated, and they get hope of returning to the competitive level. The encouragements that are gotten in this phase are vital to the recovery and allow one to manage well the negative emotions that are occasionally experienced. There is increased the sense of self-confidence and some competency by attaining the set goals, and there is some degree of self-control in the training. The rugby injured player can try various exercises that elicit same impact. There is some perceived autonomy that brings a lot of motivation to the recovering player and player adheres to the rehabilitation program and there are higher chances that one can return to the action soon than expected (Webber, 2013). The social support of the specialist is paramount in this state as it professional advice that one gets and helps to rehabilitate fully and reduce the chances of incomplete recovery. Return to play phase At the final step before the injured rugby player returns to the game, is the building of the confidence and development of the belief that one can now face the action in the actual play. The player should be reassured of any doubt one may have at this stage so as to get the confidence and the self-belief. The player may attend the session of confidence training and help the player focus on the controllable and internal confidence (Fridén, 2010). Again player can acquire some confidence from the preseason training and the knee strength. The people who are near the player who was previously injured should ensure that they talk of positive things and not about the injury so as to boost the confidence of the rehabilitated player. Conclusion The theories of treatment of anterior cruciate ligament involve various stages of the rehabilitation process. The range from the stage models to the cognitive appraisal models where the most influential emotions are identified at all stages of recovery. Players who have such problem, when they are managed well they usually recover and return to the competitive level of the game. The keen follow up of the program enables the rehabilitation process to be efficient and faster to the injured player. The rehabilitation of professional athlete requires skilled personnel so as to ensure that every critical part is adhered to the latter. References Bjornaraa, B. (2012). Flexibility and Strength Training Considerations for Young Athletes. National Strength Coaches Association J, 4(4), p.62. Doyle, J., Gleeson, N. and Rees, D. (2008). Psychobiology and the Athlete with Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Injury. Sports Medicine, 26(6), pp.379-393. Fischer, D. (2009). Neuromuscular Training to Prevent Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in the Female Athlete. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 28(5), pp.44-54. Friden, T. (2010). The injured anterior cruciate ligament. Acta Orthop, 65(s256), pp.115-115. Gibelman, M. and Whiting, L. (2009). Negotiating and Contracting in a Managed Care Environment: Considerations for Practitioners. Health & Social Work, 24(3), pp.180-190. Gorgievski, M. and Stephan, U. (2013). Applied Psychology: An International Review Special Issue. Applied Psychology, 63(1), pp.219-221. Lakens, D. (2014). Grounding Social Embodiment. Social Cognition, 32(Supplement), pp.168-183. Leech, E. (2013). Preparing a Female Collegiate Athlete for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction and Rehabilitation. Orthopaedic Nursing, 22(3), pp.169-181. Reviewers for Applied Cognitive Psychology. (2009). Appl. Cognit. Psychol., 19(5), pp.669-670. Shelbourne, K. and Patel, D. (1996). Timing of surgery in anterior cruciate ligament injured knees. The Knee, 3(4), pp.206-212. Shelbourne, K. and Rowdon, G. (2011). Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury. Sports Medicine, 17(2), pp.132-140. Stanitski, C. (2008). Anterior cruciate ligament injury in the skeletally immature athlete. Operative Techniques in Sports Medicine, 6(4), pp.228-233. The use of conservative treatment in partial anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears among male athlete. (2013). Int. J. Biosci., pp.312-320. Triner, J. and Turner, S. (2010). Professional Coaches and Employee Assistance Practitioners. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 21(2), pp.1-14. Webber, M. (2013). Developing Advanced Practitioners in Mental Health Social Work: Pedagogical Considerations. Social Work Education, 32(7), pp.944-955. Read More