The Grief Cycle: An Integration of the Psychological and Physiological Stages of Recovery from a Lower Extremity Stress Fracture in NCAA Division I Female Distance Runners

Collegiate Athletics is glorified in the United States; particularly at the NCAA Division I level. Through the lens of a sport-loving spectator, talented, scholarship athletes live the good life of suiting up in university colors, competing before their fans, and, when they’re taking a break from annihilating the competition, reveling in the perks being a collegiate athlete.\ud Often overshadowed, are the many stressors unique to representing one’s university at the highest level of NCAA intercollegiate athletics. Beyond carrying a heavy academic load, Division I student-athletes are held to incredibly high athletic standards and face sports-related pressures, fears, and anxieties. With the demands of practice and competition often exceeding twenty hours per week, there is little time for a life outside of athletics. As these high-achieving student-athletes strive towards perfection on the field and in the classroom, the physical and emotional stress can mount to an unsustainable level, resulting in injury.\ud The objective of this paper is to reveal the stressors and psychological factors that influence the onset and recovery from an NCAA Division I female distance runner’s lower extremity stress fracture. It depicts how the athlete’s emotional responses to injury during each physiological phase of recovery mirror the five stages of the Kübler-Ross Grief Cycle