Skip to main content

Understanding and conquering pain and discomfort in sport

Discomfort is common when you do anything that involves effort. This is just as true for us non-painters as we paint a ceiling and get shoulder ache, as it is to cycle up an Alp at our maximum limit. The discomfort, burn, ache we experience from a given task, varies greatly among different people. The experience of pain and rating of pain intensity is very personal. How we interpret the experience is central in the unpleasantness and intolerance of it.

Sports psychologists believe that the athletes who can push themselves and endure more intensity do so because they view the experience in helpful ways. For instance, they view it in one or more of the following ways:

1. It is discomfort, not pain
2. It is tolerable, not something to stop
3. It is there for a good reason (helping me get fitter, beat opponents…), not a bad reason
4. Or, as much as they are feeling this discomfort, other people are experiencing the same or more and that is fine

Knowing this, we can start to notice how we view the discomfort and choose to interpret it in a different, more helpful way.

Dr Victor Thompson
Clinical Sports Psychologist
http://www.sportspsychologist.com
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Golden teams: What surrounds you, counts too.

Imagine the scene: You’ve just won the Olympic gold medal in your sport. You can hear the adulation: “Well done.” “ You ’ve done it.” “ You ’ve done so well.” “How did you do it?” Yes, if you were that athlete, then you were the one to finish first. So they are right, you did do it. However, was it only you that got you there? I’m not so sure. First, even before you moved a muscle, there was Mum and Dad and their cocktail of genes that directed your development. Then there were opportunities at school and outside school to exercise and compete. Somehow, you managed not to give up competitive sport in your teens, when the majority of your peers quit. So, how did you get from there to the Olympics? I believe strongly that you did it because you had a good team around you. These are the unsung heroes, the people who are almost always in the background. Like in a theatre production, these are the people who built the stage and organise the lighting that allow the performer to perfor...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to keep your motivation to run after you have signed-up to the event

What is it you want again? Think about what you want out of the event: to finish, to run/jog/walk it, to enjoy it or something else. This is important because it will help to keep you motivated and focused during training if you not only know what you are training for (the race) but also know what you want out of it (so you'll know how to run the event). It will also help to tell you what you need to do between now and then to reach your goal. Variety is the spice! Keep motivation high by keeping your runs varied and fun (or at least interesting). So, do runs of different lengths or durations, do some flat and hilly runs, runs with faster bits, road and off-road runs - variety will be good for keeping your interest high and give a good training effect on the body too. Try to run with other runners. See if you can get some of your non-running friends to run or join a running club. Knowing that there is someone expecting you at certain place and time will help get you out the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Luis Suarez and the bite - World Cup Sports Psychology comment

It is a shame that on big occasions, when things aren't going your way, some will not manage the emotions of frustration or anger and lash-out. When they don't get a corrective response straight away - like being pulled off the pitch and then sanctioned - fans, including children, learn that this is probably okay. The behaviour today of role models such as Luis Suarez will be reflected on football pitches, school playgrounds and streets tomorrow. Anger management can help, but does Suarez want to change? If not, there will be no change in behaviour. Why does anger happen for top players such as Luis Suarez? Because the setting is important to them, their performance is key to the outcome and they perceive that they are heading towards and undesirable outcome. That within an individual with poor self control creates a dynamite situation. For me, this echos the Zinedine Zidane situation in the previous World Cup final.
Post a Comment
Read more