The Fear of Movement and Anxiety caused by Pain in Athletes with and without Musculoskeletal Injury

The aim of the present study was to compare pain related cognitions and selective attention to painful stimuli in athletes with and without a history of skeletal muscle injury.The present study was an applied and quasi-experimental research.The population under study included 60 professional and semi-professional male athletes in different fields of sport, 30 of whom had a history of musculoskeletal injury who had been in the field for at least two months. Sports were far, far away. The sampling method was accessible and purposeful. The instruments used in this study were questionnaires of fear of movement, earache and pain anxiety. Selective attention to painful stimuli was measured using the spot exploration test designed and constructed for the present study. The data were analyzed using independent t-test.The results showed that there was a significant difference between two groups of athletes with and without a history of injury. Also in other cognitive indices, fear of movement, consciousness, and ear-to-ear pain and anxiety-related anxiety scores were higher than those without a history of injury. Athletes are subject to many injuries due to the nature of the exercise. It is important to pay attention to identify the important cognitive factors involved in the perception of post-traumatic pain and the existence of appropriate rehabilitation programs and therapies to improve the mental and post-traumatic mental involvement of athletes along with attention to physiological factors and physical recovery.