Sports injuries take a very heavy emotional toll on athletes and weekend warriors.

Being unable to play the sports or fitness exercises you love can feel like the wind has been taken from your sails. If you’ve been using exercise as a healthy coping mechanism for stress reduction – certainly both a treasured activity and a healthy stress management tool have been taken from you. If you’re a professional or student athlete, there’s often a lot at stake. Feelings of disappointment, anger, and even depression can start to sink in and if left unchecked – and become difficult to manage. Major depressive disorder is very common among injured athletes. Symptoms can look like low mood, difficulty getting out of bed, irritability, overeating, and even thoughts of suicide. Others might struggle with feelings of social isolation or and engage in unhealthy coping such as excessive junk food, drinking, or pain medication misuse.

As a life-long athlete and fitness enthusiast this a timely blog post for me. This year, I set some lofty physical and mental fitness goals. I was in the process of improving my strength, flexibility, and endurance – going to the gym 6 days a week including a combination of strength training, yoga, tennis, swimming, and daily walks. I was balancing this with daily saunas, ice-cold showers, and flexibility training. One of my top aims for the year was to bring my tennis game above a 5.0 level – around where I was when I was playing competitive high school tennis. Then one day at tennis practice the unthinkable happened – my momentum and goals were completely sidelined by an Achilles tendon rupture in my right foot.

As aggravating as sports injuries are, time, patience, and great medical treatment are your friends. What’s equally important is keeping your mind strong. As an integrative psychologist, I have been using a variety of mental strategies to keep my mind strong during my own injury recovery. I have helped countless athletes cope with similar season-ending injuries and wanted to share some strategies to help other injured athletes maintain a positive mindset and stave off depression symptoms.

Below are 10 tips I recommend for mentally coping with a sports injury:

1. The first step is accepting the reality of the loss of your ability. Before you can recover, you must fully accept what has happened, the predicted recovery time, and follow medical advice. Radically accept that your injuries are par for the course of being an athlete and while disappointing, you need to shift your goals to recovering as soon as possible.

2. Process your feelings. It’s okay to grieve the loss of your lost ability – in fact, I encourage it. Being in pain is no fun as well. Express (and expel) the negative feelings associated with the loss of your abilities and goals by regularly talking about how you feel. Journal and write them down. Maybe even post on social media about your journey. The more you get the feelings out of your mind and off your chest – the better you will feel.

3. Seek social support. In that same vein, social support will help you stay connected, feel supported, and stay positive as you recover. Receiving empathy, sympathy, and pats on the back will help you on your healing journey. It can also be helpful to seek support and validation from others who have recovered from the same or similar injuries. Consider watching YouTube videos or talking to other athletes you know who have experienced – and recovered from – similar injuries. This can help balance your perspective and remind you that bad fortune doesn’t only happen to you.

4. Maintain a balanced perspective through cultivating gratitude. While being injured is no walk in the park, ask yourself: what positives do you have going for you? If your injury is only temporary, find gratitude in knowing that your ability will one day be restored. Embrace any silver linings in your situation. It’s likely that whatever loss of ability you currently have, there are countless people out there who will never be able to restore the same loss of ability. Tapping into gratitude is an effective way to quell negative emotions and maintain a positive mindset.

5. Pivot to new goals. While you cannot focus on your athletic or fitness goals in the same way (or at all), what are other worthwhile goals you can shift your energy to? Instead, you can focus on leveling up intellectually. Read some self-help books or great novels. Do an online course. Make use of your sedentary time by learning new skills.

6. Become a pro at recovering. Educate yourself on the injury and recovery timeline, physical therapy exercises, and take the necessary steps. Make your recovery a top priority. While you can’t exactly control how fast you recover, you can control how frequently you do your physical therapy exercises as recommended by your doctor or physical therapist. Focus on what you can control to influence your recovery timeline and put in as much effort as possible.

7. Do as much activity as you can – safely. When injured, you may need to spend a lot of time sitting on the couch for a while your body heals. But as you start to get better, it’s important to gradually do as much as you can. Are you able to go for walks or move with mobility devices like crutches or knee scooters? If your ankle is injured, are you safely able to do core and upper body exercises? After my Achilles surgery, and as soon as I was well enough, I was at the gym in a cast, using a knee scooter to get around, and safely using upper body weight machines. While my leg muscles were atrophying, I built my upper body strength. First and foremost, always follow your orthopedic surgeon or physical therapist’s recovery protocol – and – within that, do as much as you can.

8. Avoid pseudo-science and snake oil supplements. When you’re injured and can’t do what you love, there is a feeling of helplessness and desperation that sinks in. That can naturally lead a person to research and hope to find supplements, natural cures, and alternative treatments. And you’ll find them. The billion-dollar supplement industry invests millions of dollars into marketing to trick you into thinking there are would-be cures or special supplements that will enhance your recovery timeline. Don’t fall prey to these marketing tricks. Talk to the medical professionals who are helping you – trust that they would have researched and vetted any of the best practice treatments for your recovery. When it comes to Achilles recovery, for instance, I was told there was literally nothing I could take to improve my recovery timeline other than time and following my recovery protocol.

9. Plan your comeback. While recovering requires time and how much time is largely out of your control, look forward to being able to gradually get back to the sports and exercises you love. Adhering to your recovery protocol, celebrate the small improvements you make over time – like being able to walk without a cast again. When you’re fully recovered, you can train hard with a new appreciation for having lost and regained an ability or activity you cherish. You may even one day be stronger, better, or faster than you were before.

1o. If you’re struggling to keep a positive mindset while injured, consider getting professional help. Talk to a therapist or psychologist who specializes in working with athletes. Injuries are physically and emotionally tough to recover from – and staying on track mentally is just as important as your physical recovery.

The Bottom Line

Season-ending injuries are some of the toughest challenges athletes will face. Certainly, nobody likes being injured, but it’s especially difficult when you are a professional athlete or simply love playing sports and exercising. While these injuries take both a physical and mental toll, using effective coping strategies can help you stay mentally strong and recover as soon as possible. Stay positive and before you know it, you’ll be back in the game – maybe even better than before.