Pain Management and Attitudes Among Athletes. Nicholas Judy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq5vWF6X1NY

• Purpose of my research was to study athlete’s attitude towards pain and how they deal with pain.• Social Influences or other driving forces• Positive vs. Negative views on pain

• All my interviews were done with UMW track and field athletes.• No athletic scholarships• 4 females• 6 males• Varying events

When it occurs• Training• Running Workouts• “Because at practice you have to run more reps. When you’re

running a race you just run the race and you’re done.” – Claire

• Competition(specific part of event)• “Second phase of triple jump is the most painful

part”- Matt• “The most painful part is in both training and

competition, right when you’re crossing the finish line and you are completely exhausted and just want to lie on the ground and never get up.”- Dylon

• Injuries

Personal Thoughts• “I might consider not putting forth as much effort

as I could, but usually less effort doesn’t exactly translate to less pain and putting forth full effort makes similar stuff down the road easier.” - Adam

• “During a race or workout I focus on what is happening right now, the rep I’m doing now. I try not to think of what is next. Once I’m done I switch my focus to recovering.”- Daniel

Driving Forces• “I don’t want to let anybody down and be seen as

a quitter. I also know that I signed up for track and I could quit at any time, but I’ve already put so much effort into it that quitting couldn’t make any sense.” Adam

• “Oh, yea I’m all internal, self-motivated. It has never been about other people to me.” – Claire

• “Yes, I want to stay strong in order to hopefully motivate my teammates to do the same and then that motivates me. It’s a big circle.”- Emily

• “I feel like everything I am doing I am doing for them [family]. My coaches and teammates help too though.”- Glenn

Injuries• A part of all athletes lives

• “It is hard to resist working out. I am almost always in the mood to workout. Not being able to sucks. So that part was difficult”- Dylon

• “Yes, it can be hard to ignore. But mostly it is just frustrating and annoying not being able to do the things I need to do to get better. Not being able to keep up sucks.” – Danielle

• “Mentally yea, I always feel like I should be able to do more, but I can’t” -Matt

Positive vs. Negative• Good and Bad types of Pain• Differences between being injured and just hurting

“I think that depends on what kind of pain we’re talking about. An athlete you learn the difference between soreness and actual bad pain like injuries. But overall I would say positive, I can tell my limits.” - Michael

Is their opinion different

• “I think we see pain as another obstacle to overcome, and we want to get over it as quickly and easily as possible, and if getting over it would take us out of competition then we just deal with it. We also deal with it all the time so sustaining an injury has a far small impact on us than non-athletes.” - Adam

• “Yea, I think so. I don’t think they experience physical pain the same way we do so they don’t necessarily know the difference between soreness and actual bad pain. I think they wouldn’t be able to push themselves through good pain, their bodies would tell them to stop and they would. Athletes see pain as more of a good thing and are more capable to push through it.” - Claire

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IS_5zt35Tc