Rehabilitation following a Sports Injury: Do the Motives of Athlete and Athletic Therapist Matter?

Background: Previous studies indicate motivation is an important consideration impacting return-to-sport following injury. Little is known about the role played by athletes’ perceptions of the clinician’s motives for providing treatment during rehabilitation.

Objectives:The aim of this study was to address the following question: Do the motives expressed by an injured athlete for entering treatment, plus an athletic therapist’s motives for providing treatment, matter when rehabilitating a sports injury?

Methods: Athletes (N = 97; Mage = 20.2±1.9 years; 55.7% female) were randomized to one of four groups which manipulated the salience of intrinsic/extrinsic motives reported by an injured athlete for entering treatment plus an athletic therapist for providing treatment. Dropout and effort put into rehabilitating the injury were measured using a questionnaire at post-test only.

Results: Multivariate analysis of variance indicated statistical differences (p< .05) between the groups. Post-hoc (Bonferroni) analyses indicated less dropout and more effort were evident when the athlete and athletic therapist engaged in rehabilitating an injury for intrinsic as opposed to extrinsic reasons. Mixed support was evident for the mitigating role of an intrinsically motivated athletic therapist providing treatment to an extrinsically motivated athlete.

Discussion: Overall, the results of this study reinforce the importance of understanding the motivational basis for seeking and providing treatment in sports therapy contexts, as well as, the potential role of an athletic therapist’s motives in optimizing treatment processes and outcomes.

Keywords: Self-Determination Theory, Intrinsic/Extrinsic Motives, Return-to-Sport, Psychology of Injury, Rehabilitation Psychology, Athletic Therapy.