Athlete Identity and Support Shape Rehab Success

Researchers tracked 142 competitive athletes aged 18 to 35 who suffered moderate to severe sports injuries. Each athlete needed eight to twelve weeks of rehabilitation. The team measured how strongly each person identified as an athlete and how much social support they felt they had. They also recorded clinic visits, home exercise logs, and therapist ratings to gauge adherence.

Adherence was not steady across the recovery period. In the early weeks athletes completed about 77 percent of prescribed tasks. By the middle phase that figure dropped to roughly 64 percent. In the final weeks it climbed back to near 70 percent. The pattern shows a clear dip in the middle of rehab.

The combination of identity and support made a big difference. Athletes who saw themselves strongly as athletes and also reported high support stuck to the program 84 percent of the time. In contrast, those with strong identity but low support only managed about 59 percent adherence. The gap highlights how support can boost or undermine motivation.

Daily reports of perceived support predicted whether an athlete would follow the plan that same day. Emotional encouragement had a stronger impact than practical help such as transportation. The predictive model achieved an AUC of 0.847, indicating good accuracy. Clinicians are advised to assess both identity levels and available support networks when designing personalized rehab strategies.