Shortly after my 17th birthday, I participated in
a friendly, yet competitive, basketball tournament. I was going up for an offensive
rebound, and when I landed on the ground I felt a sharp pain in my left calf. I
collapsed to the ground, grabbing the swelling in my leg. Later when I was
meeting with doctors, I heard the phrases “torn muscle,” “missed the nerve,”
“lucky to walk again.” Those words rang through my head as I was on crutches
and in a walking boot for just over two months, and then as I underwent intense
physiotherapy for four more months.
To this day, I am not as aggressive around the hoop as I
used to be. Albeit, some of it may have to do with that I’m not as fit as I
used to be, but there still is that lingering fear, and reminders when I play
in similar venues.
Sports Psychology is a recent field and is devoted to
helping athletes gain a mental edge that helps improve or enhance their
athletic performance. Sports Trauma is even newer. The understanding that a
traumatic experience in sporting, such as the one I had, or bigger ‘T’ traumas
such as permanent physical damage, or smaller ‘t’ traumas like giving
possession away and costing your team the game; impacts performance and
comfort.
There are two psychotherapies that are beneficial in
treating a traumatic experience, and can be applied to a traumatic sporting
experience. The first is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Trauma (CBT for
Trauma), and the second is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Therapy.
CBT for Trauma focuses on understanding thoughts, emotions,
body feelings, and actions. Challenging negative and unhelpful thoughts, and
reframing those thoughts into positive helpful ones. Relaxation exercises are
used to help lower the stress and arousal system baselines in the body. All
this is done to prepare for gradual exposure to the traumatic experience
through narration. Outcome is awareness of trauma triggers and being able to
manage them.
EMDR Therapy focuses on the traumatic experience, the distress
it causes presently, negative cognitions, and body sensations associated with
the traumatic event. Through bilateral stimulation, whether visual, auditory or
physical, processing occurs until the feelings of distress are neutral. Reframing
and reprocessing occurs with a positive cognition. Outcome is a decrease in
present stress from the trauma triggers.
As is noted in Sports Psychology and is true for treating
Sports Trauma, engaging in it does not mean that one will become an elite athlete,
rather that participating in sports will become a more positive experience with
fewer unwanted triggers.
