Everybody knows that an injury takes time to recover from and that it can take a serious toll on the human body. Unfortunately though, not everyone knows how it can affect your mind and how mental health issues can then in turn push back the recovery time. With common side effects being; loneliness, anger, loss of motivation, frustration, anxiety and depression.
Speaking to former Bishop Auckland Ladies Striker, Marianna Poyzer who suffered a career ending injury to her lower back, she said ‘’It was devastating, sport is something you love and want to play week in and week out and when you can’t do that, well, devastating is the only word i can think of. It really left me broken.’’ This shows just how difficult it can be dealing with a serious injury.
A big issue that many footballers deal with when returning from injury is that they rush the return and will end up falling back on the injury and possibly re-irritating the injury.
Players such as Diogo Jota and Trent Alexander Arnold have had repeated injuries and this can be the bane of some players’ careers, Daniel Sturridge being the prime example.
Poyzer (left) went on to say that she appreciated ‘’the solidarity as i was still included as part of the team with regular updates and the team news, because even though my body couldnt be there to support the team i was there in spirit.’’ Clubs aid in an athletes recovery by providing a psychologist while they recover, providing physiotherapists to help them recover physically and keeping their mental focus on their general care to stop them from spiralling and losing focus.
Dale Rosso 