Introduction

Daily sporting activity helps us to maintain a good quality of life, and physical and emotional well-being. However, if this practice is not carried out properly, can pose risks to health, such as physical injuries. When it occurs, the injury can lead to pain and emotional disturbances. The psychological factors that influence their occurrence are little known.

Objective

This study focused on analyzing the predictive role of ruminative style and trait mindfulness in pain intensity and changes in mood after a sport injury.

Method and equipment

We selected 15 athletes with a moderate sport injury, produced three days ago. They filled a battery of self-report questionnaires in two temporal moments: three days after the injury and a week later. Also, they completed, for a week, a pain diary in which reflected the average daily, minimum and maximum. As dependent variables were evaluated: pain intensity, anxiety and depressive symptoms. As independent variables: ruminative style, rumination about the injury and trait-mindfulness.

Results

The data analysis was performed using linear regression, finding that rumination about the injury was predictor of pain intensity during the week after injury, and of anxiety level suffered ten days after the injury.

Conclusions:

The ruminative processes about the injury increase the chances of occurrence of a negative state after injury, mainly anxiety symptoms, and predict the intensity of pain experienced after sport injury. It would therefore be advisable to perform interventions that would reduce or modify such processes immediately to the injury in order to reduce anxiety and pain post injury.

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