Salud mental y lesiones deportivas en triatletas

Abstract

Mental health symptoms and disorders are very common in athletes today. Although injuries have a physical component, they are often preceded by or more prone to injury in athletes who suffer from a psychological disorder. This is why scientific literature shows the great importance that psychological factors have, both in the risk of injury and in the recovery from injury. Numerous investigations show that not only psychological variables increase vulnerability to psychological injury, but also that injuries lead to psychological consequences for the athlete. Triathlon is a highly demanding sport given its complexity, since it combines three sports modalities in the same competition, which can lead the athlete to suffer from a mental health disorder and/or to have a greater vulnerability to injury. Although studies that relate sport and mental health have increased in recent years, there are not many that relate mental health to injuries in triathletes. In light of this, at least two perspectives can be raised: mental health indicators (stress, anxiety, depression, sleep quality) that may be affecting the triathlete's vulnerability to injury; and b) injuries suffered by triathletes that may cause mental and emotional disorders (anxiety, stress, depression and poor sleep quality). The objectives of this thesis are: to establish the current body of knowledge of the scientific problem raised: relationship between mental health and sports injuries and relationship between sports injuries and emotional and psychological disorders; to determine the relationship between mental health indicators (Depression, Anxiety and Stress) and vulnerability to injury in triathletes; and, to determine the relationship between injuries suffered by triathletes and mental health indicators (Depression, Anxiety and Stress). The methodology carried out is 3 studies of which a review of reviews is carried out (study 1); and studies 2 and 3 are descriptive-correlational, regression and longitudinal studies. The results indicate that there is a relationship between mental health and sports injuries and that its indicators (depression, stress, anxiety and sleep quality) affect the athlete; positive results were obtained between the number of injuries and the three factors (stress, anxiety and depression) with stress being the highest; and in addition, it has been possible to show how the number of injuries influences the triathlete, since one injury is accepted, but a second one leads the triathlete to an increase in the Anger and Tension factor in addition to increasing the levels of Stress and Depression, worsening their mental health and predisposing them to a worse recovery. In conclusion, this study has obtained results of high interest in the psychological field of injuries, more specifically in triathletes since it has been possible to observe how mental health disorders affect the injury and/or precede it.