Athlete Burnout Is Real, and They Need Our Support

With the recent Olympic news of Simone Biles removing herself from the team final competition in gymnastics, I wanted to use this opportunity to speak about the complexities of dealing with athletes in our profession. I’ve enjoyed watching Olympic competition for as long as I can remember, but I’ve recently come to understand the double edged sword of what it means to be a fan. With support and praise comes inadvertent pressure on the athletes that perform for their own personal goals, for their teams, and for their countries. Sometimes that pressure gets the best of even the most talented and strongest competitors, and that’s ok because it’s all a part of being human.

Too often we as clinicians and strength coaches categorize athletes into what sport they participate in, what position they play, or what conditions they’re being treated for, neglecting to think that they are first and foremost a human being.  No matter what level athlete they may be, forgetting that they are indeed human with all the intricacies of our complex emotions and needs, is a fundamental flaw in what should be a well rounded approach to helping our clients out.

With the surprising news of Biles removing herself from competition, she received a lot of support for choosing her mental health above all else, but unfortunately she received a lot of backlash as well. No matter who the athlete is and what level they are on, they don’t deserve such harsh criticism as they owe all of us nothing. We are privileged to be able to watch them perform, and when they need to look out for themselves it should be applauded they realized they need to focus on something as important as their mental state. 

Sure, I love a good story of grit, comebacks, and grinding it out for a “win at all costs” Willis Reed type moment or a Michael Jordan flu game, but we must realize that is not the only way to show strength. Realizing you don’t have it in the moment and making one of the toughest decisions of your life to step down for the sake of your own health, with the pressure of an entire nation watching, with the idea of not jeopardizing a chance at gold for your teammates is possibly a deeper level of strength that few of us will ever fully understand. Strength itself comes in many forms, and yes I realize that these are “just sports”, but for these athletes this is their life.

Take Andrew Luck for example. He chose his long term health over continuing to play football, despite being one of biggest names in the game, and he got booed off the field in his home stadium as the news broke despite all he had done for his team and their fan base.

Michael Phelps’ mental health issues are pretty widely known as well, and I highly recommend the documentary “The Weight of Gold” that explains this and the post-Olympic depression in a lot more in detail.

Now I’m not claiming to be a psychologist and never will, but to forget about the complex emotional side of things as we work with athletes and people from all walks of life is missing the point entirely. We are here to help them through injury and to build their physical self, but you can’t do that completely without at least considering the emotional side of the coin.

We can provide confidence in an injured knee when returning to sport, reduce fears when lifting heavy things for an angry lower back, guidance and education through tough decisions, and provide hope when they thought all was lost. But we must also realize when to push and motivate, and when to ease off. We get so caught up in what treatment is better than others (we all have our biases 😉)debating hands on vs. hands off vs. the shiny new object, that some forget about the person in front of us. As a whole we can do better as physios and strength coaches, but more importantly we as humans can support each other wholeheartedly when our mental health needs to be in the forefront. 

We need to drop the stigmas around it, praise these athletes for the work they put in for our entertainment, and cut them slack for when they need to look after themselves physically and mentally. Again, they owe us nothing. We should be grateful to witness their performances for those of us that enjoy athletic competition, but even more so when we witness them becoming a better human by looking after themselves in a stressful environment. That, too, is true strength. 

Don’t forget this, whether you’re dealing with a high profile Olympic star, a middle school athlete just finding their way, or when working with a grandma just wanting to be able to keep up with the grandkids. We should treat athletes like humans, and treat humans as the athletes they were born to be.

I would love to one day work with Olympians for the experience and for the camaraderie of country, but even if that never happens I still approach my interactions with every person in front of me as unique individuals fighting their own battles, trying to make the most of this life.

If you’re a fellow physio or in the health and wellness realm, join me in being a part of the change to do better for those we serve. If you’re a potential client or just casual reader, don’t be afraid to find someone to work with that will treat you as more than just a number on a schedule, or just a body part rather than the whole complex and wonderful human that you are. Don’t be afraid to do what’s best for yourself at any given moment, even if that’s during the Olympic finals.

To roughly quote Phelps, training our bodies helps our minds… we can’t be 100% without addressing our physical AND mental self.