Competing while injured: what wrestlers do and why.

Abstract

The normalization of risk culture within sport injury has created an environment where athletes train and compete while injured despite the known health risks (Nixon, 1992, 1996; Wiese-Bjornstal, 2010). Athlete beliefs about their capacity to perform while in pain and pressure from social network sources are factors thought to influence their risk taking behaviors related to training and competing while injured. The purpose of this study was to examine this risk subculture characterized by pain beliefs, risk behaviors, and social network influences in the context of a demanding, high injury risk sport. Intercollegiate wrestlers (N = 195) at fifteen National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I universities participated by completing a paper and pencil survey, which consisted of a demographics questionnaire, the Sports Inventory for Pain (SIP), the Risk Behavior Conformity in Sport Injury Questionnaire (RBSCI), and the Sport Network Pressure and Support Questionnaire. Results of a multiple regression analysis examining the ability of beliefs to predict deceit behaviors among those wrestlers with prior injuries showed a significant model (p = .03, Adjusted R square = .043), with the SIP Coping subscale score a significant predictor of the RBCSI Deceit Behaviors (β = - .30, p = .001). Employing direct pain coping thought processes such as ignoring pain and toughing it out were directly related to the undesirable behaviors of deceiving others about one’s health status. A second multiple regression analysis also showed a significant model (p = .003, Adjusted R square = .074) in which two belief measures were significant predictors of RBCSI Impression Management Behaviors, SIP Coping (β = - .20, p = .022) and SIP Catastrophizing (β = -.23, p = .01). Direct pain coping thought processes (such as ignoring pain and toughing it out) and catastrophizing thoughts (such as dwelling on pain and giving up when in pain), were directly related to the undesirable actions associated with maintaining a tough façade. With respect to analyses concerning behaviors and injury components, frequency of injury was moderately correlated (r = .42, p < .05) with RBCSI Healthy Behaviors, with high frequencies of injury associated with the more likely use of healthy behavior strategies. Social network influences descriptive analyses showed that coaches (69.5%) and teammates (63.5%) were reported to “always” or “sometimes” pressure wrestlers to compete while injured. Wrestlers felt pressured to compete while injured “always” or “sometimes” 20.8% of the time by their athletic trainers and 10.9% of the time by their physicians. Implications of these results are discussed as they relate to the beliefs and behaviors of athletes, influences of their social network sources, and ties to injury components.