Applied psychology of sport injury: Getting to—and moving across—The Valley of death

Abstract

Areas of science in which policy and practice lag behind research evidence are known as “valleys of death”. It can be argued that sport injury psychology has not yet reached, let alone crossed, its own valley of death. In this paper, we consider what developments in the evidentiary base are required to reach and cross the valley of death to advance the application of psychology to sport injury prevention and rehabilitation over the next 10 years. To that end, we reflect on the current research landscape and application-readiness of several subareas of sport injury psychology, highlight some of the strengths and limitations of sport injury psychology research, consider what is required to increase the likelihood that findings from empirical sport injury psychology research will be applied as part of future preventive and rehabilitation practice to cross the valley of death, and how this can be achieved. Finally, we identify what we consider to be some of the most pressing questions for sport injury psychology researchers to address to help enhance the quality of future research and practice.

Lay Summary: In the paper, we reflect on the current research landscape in the psychology of sport injury prevention and rehabilitation and what is required of future research to close the research-practice gap.

Implications for Practice

• The applications-readiness of findings could be increased by using a participatory approach to the design and implementation of interventions, ensuring interventions are responsive to constituent needs and environmental demands, and can be implemented by users other than sport psychology consultants.