| Although athletic injury continues to be an important and growing area within the field of sport psychology, the perceptions of injured athletes have remained generally unknown. In addition, there has been little use of qualitative methodologies to assess individual injury experiences. The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth description of the injury experience as perceived by a select group of injured athletes. In addition, a second purpose was to examine the factors that impacted or influenced the perceived injury experiences.; Semistructured interviews were conducted with four {dollar}(n=4){dollar} intercollegiate, Division I athletes following their injury (non-participation phase), rehabilitation (limited participation phase), and return-to-practices and competitions (return-to-play phase). Similarly, each athlete's primary athletic trainer and position coach were respectively interviewed following the athlete's limited and return-to-play phases.; Interviews were content analyzed and data formulated into higher order and common themes indicating the following common injury experiences: (a) the no-participation phase included feelings of bitterness and jealousy, various frustrations, feelings of isolation and abandonment, concern as to how coaches were perceiving the injury, a general sense of hope, and a fear of reinjury; (b) the limited participation phase included an increased confidence in returning, a continued fear of reinjury, feelings of being unsupported and misunderstood, concern as to how coaches were perceiving them, trust between athlete and trainer, and caution and doubt concerning completely overcoming the injury; and (c) the return-to-play phase included a growing sense of confidence and satisfaction, a renewed positive attitude, apprehension and doubt concerning the return, a desire to be understood and supported, and a continued fear of reinjury. In addition, 17 common factors are provided that impacted or in some way influenced the athletic injury experiences.; From this exploratory analysis, it is implied that several common experiences are associated with athletic injury onset, rehabilitation, and return to play. In addition, there appears to be several common factors that likely impact or influence the perceived injury experience. Interpretation of results and recommendations for future study are provided. |
