Doctors stress psychotherapy for athletes
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Dr. Kim Chang-won, president of Hanmam Plus Hospital / Courtesy of Emerson K Partners
By Nam Hyun-woo
Legendary basketball comic series “Slam Dunk” fans may remember the scene where Shohoku high school captain Takenori Akagi was hesitating to show his famous moves during his team’s game against rival Ryonan high school in a fear of aggravating his ankle injury.
Akagi overcame this fear after receiving a headbutt from the series’ hero, Hanamichi Sakuragi, to bring the captain back to his senses, but in the real sports world, such fears often undermine an athlete’s performance and it requires professional assistance to help the injured athlete get back on track.
“It’s a scene that depicts how psychological aspects affect an athlete’s performance,” said Dr. Park Jeong-joon of Hanmam Plus Hospital, who added he is also a fan of the comic series. “To help an athlete to recover 100 percent, a rehabilitation program should be comprised of both physical and psychological treatment.”
Dr. Kim Chang-won, president of the hospital in southern Seoul, said: “In reality, however, the Korean sports community is still far from taking enough care of athletes’ mental health during their rehabilitation.”
The two doctors are domestic front-runners in the field of athletes’ psychological rehabilitation, which is a relatively rare concept in Korea thus far. The field started to get attention in Korea after the story that former Los Angeles Dodgers starter Park Chan-ho received psychotherapy from sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman. But for many athletic teams in Korea, it is still considered as an optional remedy or a luxury only for a few high-profile athletes.
During an interview with The Korea Times, the two doctors stressed the basic principle of the power of mind over body.
“For example, an athlete who was diagnosed with a torn muscle in his calf still suffers from the fear of a recurrence, though he does not have any pain and has fully recovered medically,” said Park. “This forces him to hesitate in doing specific movements, such as jumping or pivoting, and consequently diminishes the athlete’s performance. However, many rehabilitation programs prevalent in Korea only focus on treating the physical injury.”
Kim cited the story of Kim Sun-ae, who finished second among Korean women in the 2015 JoongAng Seoul International Marathon. Kim, 35, suffered a major injury before the National Sports Festival in October. She consulted Dr. Kim about her injury and the doctor encouraged her by showing her sonograms of her body to “objectify” the fact that her condition was getting better. The athlete, who finished third in the National Sports Festival last year, managed to come seventh and continued to rebound in the JoongAng Marathon on Nov. 11.
“Psychotherapy includes helping an athlete recover from an injury mentally, but also giving athletes psychological assistance,” said Park. “Finding the cause of an athlete’s slump and helping them to overcome the slump is also psychotherapy. Thus, it is accurate to say psychotherapy takes care of an athlete’s psychological difficulties, which he or she can have just like all other human beings.”
According to the doctors, psychotherapy begins by showing athletes why they got injured. Then, the athlete is asked to describe fully every routine of the day he or she was injured, such as when they got up, what they ate and what happened before and during their exercise.
While doing this, doctors interview the injured athlete about their feelings, fears and concerns _ even though those concerns are not related to their sport _ so that the athletes can be honest about their feelings.
The process also involves precise medical diagnosis so that the athletes can feel confident about their progress. “In the past, athletes were expected to grit their teeth against anxiety or fear of injury, but nowadays, we take a more scientific and analytical approach so they can recover successfully,” Kim said.
Psychotherapy reaches beyond healing to helping build positive routines for athletes. For example, when a player listened to a specific song before a match and reaped a favorable result, then listening to the music can be a routine, or a “positive jinx,” they do before every match.
“Now, the Korean sports community is aware of sports psychology and psychologists,” said Kim. “In case of a team’s general manager or front office recognizing the significance of sports psychology, there are some psychologists working for the teams. However, it is still hard to say the number is sufficient.
“We have to admit that sports psychotherapy is catering to the need of elite athletes and it is difficult to say that we can easily tell the general public to put the same amount of effort into rehabilitation as the athletes do. However, the purpose of sports psychotherapy is to help the participant perform her or his sport without fear, so the door is open to the public and it can surely help amateur enthusiasts enjoy sports.”
Advice for cycling enthusiasts
Kim, also president of the Seoul Cycling Federation, gave one critical piece of health advice for cycling enthusiasts.
“When you sense physical pain in your heart, you have to stop cycling immediately,” he said. “Though cycling may not be regarded as physically draining, it is an exercise that oftentimes causes a heart attack.”
According to Kim, Koreans have a relatively high chance of having arrhythmia, and some 12 out of 100 of those who had a heart attack engage in cycling.
“When such pain emerges, cough as hard as you can,” Kim said. “If you feel better 30 minutes after you’ve finished cycling, it will be fine. But if the pain continues after then, you must see a doctor. Also, doing cool-down exercises is critical.”