Forsdyke, Dale ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4283-4356, Gledhill, Adam, Schneider, Peter, Weir, Adam and Mitchell, Andrew (2025) Towards a holsitic management of injured soccer players: a psychosocial return to performance pathway. Aspetar Sports Medicine Journal, 14. pp. 282-289.

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Abstract

Soccer has a large burden of injury with many players reporting poor outcomes following injury1,2. Returning players to their pre-injury level of performance or higher is complicated. While several important recovery pathways have been proposed3,4 most are one-dimensional and do not adequately address the complexity of return-to-performance. This can leave players without the necessary biological (e.g., tissue healing), physical-functional, and psychological readiness to successfully return.

One pathway guiding return-to-performance following injury was suggested by Mitchell and Gimpel5. This uses 11 phases from diagnosis and planning to pitch-based preparation. The previous pathway mainly focuses on physical function. It did recognise a psychological aspect to be considered and profiled but lacked specificity to empower practitioners to address psychosocial factors.

Psychosocial factors have important prognostic value in many sports injuries6,7. They are associated with failure to return to pre-injury competitive sport, reinjury and an inability to achieve full performance8-11. Despite this importance, many practitioners feel underprepared to address psychosocial factors12,13. Adding an explicit psychosocial framework into an existing pathway makes it more holistic. This would help develop biological, physical-functional and psychological readiness. Our article provides a psychosocial framework integrated within the pathway5

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF636 Applied psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC1200 Sports Medicine
School/Department:	School of Science, Technology and Health
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/14293

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