It’s normal to feel lost when injury or illness strikes, but those who adapt to the change struggle the least emotionally

An enforced hiatus from running, for whatever reason, is something we all dread, so much so that we tend to stick our heads in the sand about it altogether. The reality, of course, is that most people get injured or ill at some point in their running lives so having a think about your approach to rehab, timeout and rest beforehand is a good idea.

James Lambdon, a sports psychologist at Bath University, explains: “Injuries always seem to happen at the worst time. When you’re pursuing the top level of performance, you’re constantly teetering on the edge of pushing yourself to the limits of your capability and that’s when injuries often occur. There’s a lot of research that suggests that stress levels can also potentially contribute and be factors that impact on injury.”

When trouble strikes

What trends does James see in the injured sportspeople he works with? He says, “Initially, people tend to experience injury as a negative thing; they feel loss and perceive the injury as a stopping point.” For a short period of time, this reaction is very normal but he’s also noticed that many of them find new opportunities through injury. “Dare I say it, it can actually become quite a positive experience,” he ventures.

James explains that the impact of the injury and how it was sustained has quite a large impact on the first stages of rehabilitation. Injury flies in the face of the routines we put in place, whether we’re running to get a bit of a break from the kids or whether we’re training for a race. He says: “I’d say the initial reaction of feeling frustrated, angry, disappointed or lost is quite normal and quite automatic. Some people might actually move into a depressed state for a period of time too. The main thing is how long people allow themselves to feel this way before recognising and accepting the change in situation.”