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Professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season

We explored male professional rugby union players’ experiences and perceptions of their mental and physical health and well-being across the northern hemisphere off-season. 34 professional male rugby union players participated in individual semistructured interviews (mean (SD) age=27.5 (4.3) years)....

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Autores principales: Mellalieu, Stephen D, Sellars, Paul, Arnold, Rachel, Williams, Sean, Campo, Mickael, Lyons, Deirdre
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10040030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36987513
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001361
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author Mellalieu, Stephen D
Sellars, Paul
Arnold, Rachel
Williams, Sean
Campo, Mickael
Lyons, Deirdre
author_facet Mellalieu, Stephen D
Sellars, Paul
Arnold, Rachel
Williams, Sean
Campo, Mickael
Lyons, Deirdre
author_sort Mellalieu, Stephen D
collection PubMed
description We explored male professional rugby union players’ experiences and perceptions of their mental and physical health and well-being across the northern hemisphere off-season. 34 professional male rugby union players participated in individual semistructured interviews (mean (SD) age=27.5 (4.3) years). Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The off-season was characterised by three phases players undergo to preserve their mental and physical health and well-being to recover from the previous season and regenerate in preparation for the upcoming season. These included decompression from previous season, cognitive detachment from the rugby environment and preparation for preseason. Successful progression through all three phases was influenced by several variables (work and life demands, contextual factors, experience level). Recovery and regeneration strategies focused on physical distancing/getting away from the rugby environment to cognitively detach. Injured players appear an at-risk subgroup for threats to mental well-being (isolation, anxiety, reduced sense of achievement) as a result of reduced or minimal time away from the workplace due to treatment obligations. Younger professionals are a subgroup at risk of overtraining/injury due to inadequate rest, especially as this group are least likely to seek support/guidance. This study is the first investigation into male professional rugby union players’ experiences and perceptions of their mental and physical health and well-being across the off-season period. It highlights the distinct phases players undertake to mentally recover and regenerate and the need to consider education and support for potential at risk subgroups.
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spelling pubmed-100400302023-03-27 Professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season Mellalieu, Stephen D Sellars, Paul Arnold, Rachel Williams, Sean Campo, Mickael Lyons, Deirdre BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med Qualitative Research We explored male professional rugby union players’ experiences and perceptions of their mental and physical health and well-being across the northern hemisphere off-season. 34 professional male rugby union players participated in individual semistructured interviews (mean (SD) age=27.5 (4.3) years). Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The off-season was characterised by three phases players undergo to preserve their mental and physical health and well-being to recover from the previous season and regenerate in preparation for the upcoming season. These included decompression from previous season, cognitive detachment from the rugby environment and preparation for preseason. Successful progression through all three phases was influenced by several variables (work and life demands, contextual factors, experience level). Recovery and regeneration strategies focused on physical distancing/getting away from the rugby environment to cognitively detach. Injured players appear an at-risk subgroup for threats to mental well-being (isolation, anxiety, reduced sense of achievement) as a result of reduced or minimal time away from the workplace due to treatment obligations. Younger professionals are a subgroup at risk of overtraining/injury due to inadequate rest, especially as this group are least likely to seek support/guidance. This study is the first investigation into male professional rugby union players’ experiences and perceptions of their mental and physical health and well-being across the off-season period. It highlights the distinct phases players undertake to mentally recover and regenerate and the need to consider education and support for potential at risk subgroups. BMJ Publishing Group 2023-03-24 /pmc/articles/PMC10040030/ /pubmed/36987513 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001361 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2023. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Qualitative Research
Mellalieu, Stephen D
Sellars, Paul
Arnold, Rachel
Williams, Sean
Campo, Mickael
Lyons, Deirdre
Professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season
title Professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season
title_full Professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season
title_fullStr Professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season
title_full_unstemmed Professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season
title_short Professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season
title_sort professional male rugby union players’ perceived psychological recovery and physical regeneration during the off-season
topic Qualitative Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10040030/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36987513
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001361
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