Injuries, Self-Efficacy and the Circus

As the season progresses, nagging injuries become a part of normal life. Daily visits to onsite physical trainers become all too familiar. Aside from the obvious on field collisions, sprints and nose dives, what else causes us to acquire injuries? Can the mental side of the game attribute to this? Does my confidence (self-efficacy) have an impact on acquiring sport injuries?

A study appearing in this April’s Journal of Sports Medicine, and covered recently in a NYTimes Health article, examined 47 elite competitors in gymnastics, trampoline, swimming and diving. All of which were trying to earn a spot on a Cirque du Soleil team. This team performs athletic dances, tumbles and contortions which requires elite physical abilities. The researchers wanted to determine if self-efficacy separated the injury prone from the impervious during an intensive 8-week training camp. Self-efficacy is the feeling of confidence a person has in performing a task. (NOTE: If I feel I am 100% capable of hitting the ball to the opposite field on a hit and run, I have high self-efficacy towards this task.)

Results from the study suggested that the athletes who had a low self-efficacy score were almost twice as likely to be injured when compared to those who had scored high on the self-efficacy measure. In this case, low athletic self-confidence increased injury. Researchers believed this could be attributed to attention, fear, and worry resulting in falling during the desired task and therefore causing an injury. These results suggest that effective performance enhancing interventions are necessary to build self-efficacy in all sports for every individual.

The Cirque du Soleil team psychologist suggests a solution for athletes with low self-efficacy, “Someone who thinks rightly or wrongly that he can’t complete a physical task should think small. Concentrate on the process, not the end result. Succeeding at a portion of the task will show you that you have the capacity to succeed at the rest.”

This is applicable to my marathon training. Instead of trying to complete a daunting 10-mile run, I attack 2 miles at a time. This helps me stay focused on what’s important (form, energy, rest stops) and allows me to build confidence while I succeed portion by portion/mile by mile. This also prevents me from being distracted by all the miles that lay ahead.

What are the parts of your game that you have high and low confidence or self-efficacy in? Can the low confidence part be broken down into smaller components, focused on in practice and built up over time? If so, this may be the key to a healthier season.

And Knowing is half the battle.