BICOL STATE COLLEGE OF APPLIED SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

Penafrancia, Naga City

IMPACT OF SPORTS INJURY TO

MENTAL HEALTH OF NAGA CITY
ATHLETES

Ana Sheryl Lynn S. Catura, MAEd

Professor II
 Erika L. Gapit

Kathlene Ann C. Oberos

Neil Frederick Turallo

John Lourde Delos Santos

Ciara Ivy Penaflor

BPE 4B SWM
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

A significant part of the population of the Philippines is involved in sports. It was

known as part of most people’s lives used to remain healthy and fit. Sports has a
wide range of giving enjoyment and relaxation to people and promotes a good
health to all who are engaging in sports. One of the main functions of sports is
keeping a higher level of fitness and health, for both physical and mental. Some
believe that sports participation gives numerous health benefit and promotes
physical, emotional and mental health improvement to an individual. Jack Raglin
(2007), stated that Single session of sports activity reduces anxiety, improves mood,
and raises feelings of energy that last for several hours. Long-term sports
participation can significantly improve conditions such as clinical anxiety and
depression to a degree that rivals medication, both in adults and adolescents, but
anyone who plays and those who are actively participating in sports may encounter
injury because injuries are inevitable.

Sports injuries are the injuries acquired in athletic activities. It is defined as

physical harm or change to someone’s body that may be caused by sports accident
or an attack. It can happen in a split second but the recovery time can be in just a
day but some injuries may take up to the whole season or longer. Traumatic injury is
defined as damage resulting in functional deficits and functional abnormalities. It is a
type of damage that occurs as a result of traumatic event.
 Experiencing sports injury has a great impact on every athlete, it can be in
physical and especially in mental. Deborah Roche (2018) stressed out that "It can
often be a grief process, even if it's temporary, there's still loss involved, there are
possible mental struggles an athlete may go through. After an injury, many athletes
may feel sad, frustrated, depressed and anxious.”

There are some cases that has been reported that there is a well-known athlete
experienced sports injury. In 2014, Paul George, the Indiana Pacers star suffered one
of the most gruesome injuries. The famous Indiana Pacers player hustled back on
defense to contest an open lay-up by James Harden but unfortunately, his leg landed
directly on the base of the basket stanchion, completely buckling and causing a
compound tibia-fibula fracture. It has been 23 weeks since the injury, but the signs
of progress have been steady along the way. George’s injury looked like it would be
career-ending, or at least career-changing. In the same year, Laquon Treadwell, an
AFL player,suffered a devastating knee injury in 2014 while playing at Ole Miss after
being brought down from behind by an Auburn Tigers defender then he ends up
missing the next games and suffered mild psychological breakdown.

The over-all significance of this study is to provide knowledge and, deeper and
clearer meaning about how an injury can affect the mental health of an athlete. This
research will be beneficial to the athletes, students, coaches, sports official and
future researchers because this research can provide a broader understanding about
mental health and the injury. This can also be an instrument for the future
researchers who studies sports.

This research reports the findings of a study to establish the impact of sports
injury to the mental health of Naga City athletes.
Significance of the Study

The purpose of this research is to give awareness of the long term effects of
sports injury or sports trauma to an athlete and give deeper understanding to the
readers about the mental health of a sportsperson who suffers from an injury. This
study is designed to determine what are the traumas that an athlete may experience
after an injury.

The outcome of this study will help and can be a reference for the future
researchers interested in relevant study and innovation of this field. The result of the
study could hopefully provide deeper and clearer information about the aftermath
experience of the athletes specifically to the mental health of an injured athlete.
Furthermore, this study will be beneficial to the following:

TO STUDENTS

This study will provide the student with some knowledge about Sports
injuries acquired by athletes. It will give the student a realization that an injury can
portray a big impact to player. At the end of this study, the students would finally
know the importance of the effects of injury to the mental health of an athlete.

TO RESEARCHERS

The researchers thought that if this study would be successful it would be

able to help the students and teachers. The findings of this study will serves as a
good and accurate and helpful information.

TO COACHES
 This study will help the coaches understand more the behavior of their
athletes towards their sports. It will give them clearer knowledge on how to deal
with their players.

Statement of the problem

The study aims to investigate the impact of sports injury to the mental health of
an amateur athlete.

Specifically this study sought to answer the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the amateur Athletes in Naga City as to:

i. Personal profile

ii. Field of sports

iii. kind of injuries experienced

2. What are the effects of injuries to the amateur athlete’s mental health in
terms of :

A. Behavior

B. Emotional stability

C. Social attributes

3. Is there a significant relationship between the sports injury and mental health
of athletes in Naga City?
Assumptions

This study is based on the following assumptions that:

1. Every person who is actively participating in sports are prone to Injury.

2. Awareness about the mental health of an athlete who experienced injury is

inadequate among the readers.

3. Every injury that a sportsperson had experienced has an impact to their

mental health.

4. That injury has a great impact to the athletes in terms of behavior and most
especially to their emotional stability.

Hypothesis

The athletes who experiences in sports injury is accompanied by depression,

tension, anger and low self-esteem that may lead to the extent that some of the
athletes are unable to cope up with their field and some uses these sport injuries as
motivation and strength to gain control on their personal situation.

Sports injury brings a psychological trauma to some players. Injury is an aspect

of sport that has been evaluated and researched in years. Only few focuses and give
attention to what are the traumas that a player experiences after an injury occur.

Despite of having some knowledge about on its effects, there is a little amount
of attention given to its issue. Perhaps a study which investigates the impact on the
mental health by a survey could help resolve the situation.
Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The study focused on the relationship of sports injury to the mental health of
amateur athletes in Naga City. The study determined the profile of the amateur
athletes in Naga City. The research respondents in composed of thirty (30) amateur
athletes that have experienced some degree of injury residing in the parameter of
Naga City. The primary data gathering method will be used is survey to determine
the effects of the injury to the players. sports injuries were also identified in
perception of the athletes.

Definition of Terms

Terms used in this study was defined in operational way for clarity and better
understanding providing the readers a better grasp of their meaning.

Amateur Athlete- are athletes that play for passion not for money. It can be a
student athlete as long as they are not paid

Mental Health- refers to the psychological and emotional well-being of an amateur

athlete who experience sports injury.

Sports Trauma- is the result of an overwhelming amount of stress after an injury or

accident happened to an amateur athlete. It is the long term effect on the mental
health of an amateur athlete brought by a sport injury.

Psychological Trauma- a damage to the mind than occurs as a result of a severely

distressing event focusing on the mental impact to an amateur athlete.

Anxiety- is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent

event or something with an increase outcome.
Depression-is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how an
amateur athlete feel, the way they think and how they act after a sport injury.

Sportsman- a word used to refer to an athlete. It is person who takes part in sports,
especially as a professional.

Sports Injury- is the result from an acute trauma or repetitive stress associated with
athletic activities.

Behavior- the way in which an amateur athlete acts or conducts oneself, especially
toward others after the sport injury.

Social Stability- It refers on how the athletes react to people after being injured,
example of this is being disconnected with people and wanting to be alone.

Emotional Stability- it refers to what an amateur athlete is feeling after the injury or
while recovering from an injury, example of this is feeling anxious or nervous while
playing that an accident may happen again.

Mild Injury- An injury that last in a short period of time and has a very small impact
on the athlete’s performance after recovery from injury.

Moderate injury- an injury that last longer than mild injury, it can make a big
difference in an athlete’s performance after recovering from injury.

Severe Injury- a long-term injury that may cause an athlete to be paralyzed or worse
is death.

End Notes

Cory Stieg (2018)

How physical Injuries affect your mental health,. Retrieved from,
https://www.refinery29.com/sports-injury-psychology-mental-health
Margot Putukian (n.d.)
Mind,Body and Sport: How being injured affects mental health,. Retrieved from,
http://www.ncaa.org/sport-science-institute/mind-body-and-sport-how-being-
injured-affects-mental-health

Injuries in Athletics: Causes and Consequences pp 243-267| Cite as

Psychological Trauma: Unfortunate Experience in Athletics,. Retrieved from,
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-0-387-72577-2_11

Matthew Jussim (2018)

13 Athletes Who Made Amazing Comebacks After Career-threatening Injuries.,
Retrieved
https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/13-athletes-who-made-amazing-comebacks-
after-career-threatening-injuries/
 CHAPTER 2

RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the related literature and studies after the thorough and
in-depth search done by the researchers. This will also present the synthesis of the
theoretical and conceptual framework to fully understand the research done. There
are books that the researchers used as a tool for studying the research topic
presented which is “The Impact of Sports Injury to the Mental Health of Naga City
Athletes.”

Sport injuries are defined as injuries that happen during sports. In recent years,
the researchers have become increasingly concerned with the effect of sports injury
to the mental health of an athlete. In the book Essential of Athletic Training by
Daniel D. Arnheim, sports injury has become a major stressor for the athletes.
According to Pearsall (Essential of Athletic Training p. 75), athlete’s bodies undergo
numerous “fight-or-flight” reactions to avoid injuries or other threatening situations.
There are different types of injury and grade of severity. Different sport types have
their own injuries and individual ways for prevention (Renström et al. 2002.19 -49).
These sport injuries can affect on several levels of well-being. These are physical,
emotional and social well-being. Physical well-being includes pain, rehabilitation,
physical changes of athletes’ body and either permanent or temporary physical
restrictions. Beyond the physical effects, getting injured can impact your mental
health in a big way, whether you're an athlete, a casual exerciser, or just an active
person. "[An injury] is a realization of the fact that you’re not invincible, and that
things can take us all out at different times," says Deborah Roche, PhD, clinical
psychologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery who specializes in sports psychology.
This study presents that doing sports, itself, constitutes the risk of injuries. The most
common, and at the same time most frequent sport injuries relate to the ankle .
They stated that sport injuries happen three times more often during matches than
in training sessions and about half of them are related to the lower limbs. 50% of the
cases contact between players is the cause of the injury and in this respect
footballers and ice hockey players are the most affected. According to this research
the highest number of incidents for ligament rupture is typical with team sports and
indoor sports, so rugby, football, basketball, handball and volleyball players are the
most exposed to this kind of injury . Thus, as an athlete, being physically prepared
for competitions and matches on a daily basis, they should also be prepared for
challenges psychologically with the same intensity.

After an injury, athletes experience a range of emotions like being sad,

frustrated, depressed, anxious, nervous, and fearful, Dr. Roche says. "It can often be
a grief process, [because] even if it's temporary, there's still loss involved," she says.
You may also feel like you're out of control, which can be tough to cope with for lots
of people. There are many athletes ranging from novice to professional level and
across a wide range of sports and recreational activities, who have suffered career
ending injuries and can relate to experiencing psychological distress including re-
injury anxiety (3), depressive symptoms (4), and loss of athletic identity (5) long after
they’re physically recovered. When the injury is more serious and requires surgery it
can quickly become a distressing setback, an event often appraised as impeding
progress toward desired goals and for some ending their athletic career. Sport injury
can affect athletes both physically and psychologically. Pain, cognition, emotion, and
behavior are primary areas of psychological functioning affected by injury.
Psychological responses to sport injury tend to be strongest in close temporal
proximity to injury occurrence and fluctuate over the course of rehabilitation.
Psychological readiness to return to sport after injury is an emerging concept that
incorporates aspects of cognition, emotion, and behavior, including anxiety,
confidence, motivation, and post return expectations. A variety of theoretical
perspectives have been used to guide a body of research on psychological responses
to sport injury. Relatively few controlled investigations of interventions designed to
influence psychological responses to sport injury have been conducted. Emotional or
psychological impact in some athletes may also be related to performance failure.
When athletes sustain bodily injury associated with time loss from their sport, they
can suffer both physically as well as emotionally with a decrease in their quality of
life. Concussion is another injury that can be very challenging for athletes to handle
given the associated emotional and cognitive symptoms (e.g. post-concussive
syndrome). Lynne H Johnston, Douglas Carroll (2000) the study aims to test the
assumption that the psychological impact of injury varies with involvement in sport
would experience greater negative affect and retarded recovery. The author wants
to prove that incapacitation for those who are not involved in sport and exercise
before injury may have much the same affective impact as it does for those with
considerable involvement. This suggests that it may be important to assess affective
reactions and perceived recovery during the re-entry phase.

Depending on unique athlete psychology, each will respond in a different way

exhibiting a wide range of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses (Masten,
Strazar, Zilavec, Tusak & Kandare, 2014). Athletes with prior mental health concerns,
as well as athletes requiring surgery and a greater absence from participation in
sport or physical activity are at greater risk for experiencing lingering mental health
concerns following their physical recovery and should be encouraged to seek
services from sport psychologists.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Sports Injury Performance of

Athletes in Naga
 Severe City
 mild
 moderate

Effects to Athletes
in Naga City

 MENTAL
HEALTH

This study focuses on the impact of sports injury to the mental health of
athletes in Naga City bringing up one idea that sports injury whether it is severe,
moderate and simple, may affect the performance of the athletes in Naga City. It
may show manifestation of the effects of the injuries to the mental health of the
athlete whether it is simple or traumatic.
 CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

This study used a mixed-method used to provide more accurate answers to

the questions and purposes of the study. The mixed method data gathering
technique through the survey method, using the survey questionnaire as the
instrument.

Mixed methods research is a methodology for conducting research that

involves collecting, analyzing and integrating quantitative and qualitative research.

3.2 RESPONDENTS

The researcher considered the amateur athlete of Naga City, Philippines

composing of minimum of 30 persons. These athletes are evidently more prone to
injuries because of lack of professional training.

3.3 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The Survey questionnaire will be used as the main data gathering instrument
for this study. The questionnaire will be divided into 3 main sections: First, Personal
profile of the athlete; getting the information about the athlete. Second, the field of
sports; to know what kind of sports that they are into. Lastly, encountered injury by
the athlete; to also know how severe the injury is and to know the effect of the
injury to an athlete.

This survey questionnaire, Five (5) choices is provided for every question. The
choices will represent the degree of agreement that each respondent answered on
the given question. The respondents will be asked to choose their preferred
response by checking the scale that suits their personal feelings and perception
towards the given area.

3. 4 DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE

The researcher will provide the questionnaires to the amateur athletes of

Naga City. The handling of questionnaire will be done personally by the researchers
and facilitated by the retrieval of responses. This procedure also enabled the
researcher to conduct interview at the same time consecutively. The researchers
collected the answered questionnaire and tally, tabulate and analyze the results.

3.5 STATISTICAL

In this research, descriptive statistics will be used in order to determine how

many athlete experience an impact in their mental health after undergoing an injury
related to sports. The general weighted mean will show the percentage of athletes
who had gone an injury and affects their mental health. This will also show the
percentage of the Naga City athletes who still continued playing.