STRESS SOURCES ENCOUNTERED WHEN REHABILITATING FROM SEASON-ENDING SKIINJURIES

This study was designed to identify specific stress sources in elite s kiers who suffered season-ending injuries and compare stress source fa ctor differences between unsuccessful and successful postinjury perfor mers. Retrospective qualitative interviews were conducted with 21 U.S. alpine and freestyle ski team members who suffered season-ending inju ries. Results were content analyzed and revealed that the 182 stress s ource raw data themes coalesced into eight higher order dimensions inc luding: psychological, social, physical, medical/rehab, financial, car eer, missed nonski opportunities, and other. The successful versus uns uccessful skier comparisons revealed that a greater percentage of unsu ccessful skiers reported a lack of attention/empathy and negative rela tionship social dimension concerns, as well as poor performance and in activity physical dimension concerns. Successful skiers reported more isolation concerns. Findings are discussed relative to how athletic in juries result in not only physical stressors, but a broad range of soc ial and psychological stressors.