athlete supportAwarenessFeelingsIdentityinjury recoveryMindsetSelf-DiscoveryTrust
When Injuries Keep Showing Up: Looking Beyond the Physical
Why do some teen girl athletes struggle with repeated injuries?
When we talk about injury for teen girl athletes, we usually focus on the physical.
A muscle was overworked.
The hit jostled the brain.
Something tore, strained, or gave out.
And of course for an athlete who’s itching to get back to play, those explanations matter. They’re real, and deserve proper care.
Ever notice that some athletes just keep re-injuring or seeming like there’s one thing after the other?
Why does this keep happening?
Maybe it’s not constant. But often enough to notice. Often enough to feel frustrating in that the momentum you picked up is stalled out again.
The Mind–Body Connection We Don’t Always Talk About
Your body doesn’t operate separately from your mind.
Your nervous system is constantly taking in information, whether it’s your stress levels, your beliefs, your pressure, your sense of safety and translating that into how your body functions.
This impacts things like:
- Muscle tension and relaxation
- Coordination and reaction time
- Recovery and immune function
- Pain perception
…and so much more.
Research continues to show that psychological stress, anxiety, burnout, and mental load can influence injury risk, recovery, and return-to-play outcomes in athletes. While injuries are physical events, an athlete’s internal world (stress levels, coping capacity, and overall mental well-being) shapes how the body performs, adapts, and heals. (Rogers, D. L. et al. 2023. How Mental Health Affects Injury Risk and Outcomes in Athletes.)
So while your injuries are physical, the conditions around them are often influenced by what’s happening in your internal world.
When I was getting sick and injured all the time
In my early twenties, I found myself getting sick and injured so often.
It was usually some version of a throat infection, frequent enough that it started to feel like a pattern. I also dealt with a number of injuries during that time, which would pull me out of the sports I loved.
Looking back, what stands out isn’t just the physical symptoms, it’s where I was mentally.
I was doing a lot. Studying, working, training. Trying to be good at everything.
But I wasn’t really checking in with myself.
And I definitely wasn’t asking:
- What do I actually want right now?
- What feels meaningful or fulfilling?
- What feels like too much?
I was operating from a place of pressure and achievement, trying to be the best student, the best employee, the best athlete.
And at the time, I had very little awareness of how that was impacting me.
It’s hard to prove direct cause and effect. But it’s also hard to ignore that during a time when I felt the most disconnected from myself, my body seemed to struggle the most too.
Patterns Worth Getting Curious About
If you’re someone who experiences repeated aches, injuries, or getting run down, this isn’t about assuming something is wrong.
But it’s worth getting curious about patterns like:
- Pushing through fatigue without noticing early signals
- Feeling constant internal pressure to perform
- Struggling to rest without guilt
- Doubting your ability to sustain success
- Doubting your worthiness and skill
- Feeling disconnected from what you actually want
These might not directly cause injuries but they can create a state where the body is under ongoing physical and mental overload which increases vulnerability over time.
It’s important to say this clearly:
Injury is not your fault.
Bodies are complex. Sport is demanding. Things happen.
This isn’t about thinking your way into or out of injury.
It’s about recognizing that your internal world is part of your overall health and learning how to work with it, rather than ignoring it will ensure you can keep doing what you love with a body that’s backing you up.
Expanding How You Take Care of Yourself
Most athletes are taught how to care for their bodies:
Strength. Conditioning. Rehab. Nutrition.
But fewer are taught how to care for their internal state.
That might look like:
- Learning how to regulate stress, not just push through it
- Building self-worth that isn’t tied only to performance
- Creating space to check in with yourself regularly
For me, as I developed more awareness, learned to listen to my body, and made choices more aligned with what actually mattered to me, my overall health shifted.
Noticeably.
And now, if I do get sick or injured, sure it could just be that someone coughed on me, but I take a minute to take stock of how I’ve been running my life. Have I been listening to myself and my needs? Have I been pushing through and ignoring myself? All too often, the answer confirms my suspicions.
When It Might Be Time to Go Deeper
For teen girl athletes who feel stuck in cycles of injury and recovery, this can be an important layer to explore.
Working with a therapist or mental performance coach can help you understand how your mind, body, and identity as an athlete are interacting and building a future you love.
Your body isn’t working against you.
Even when it breaks down, it’s responding to something.
The more you learn to listen beyond just the symptoms, but to the patterns underneath, the more equipped you’ll be to support both your performance and your well-being.
Let’s Keep Walking Together
If this message resonated with you, you’re already part of the community.
I appreciate you!
I’d love to invite you into our email community, a caring online space where we share 2–3 thoughtful notes each week with resources, tools, and real-life encouragement for raising (and being) resilient teen girls.
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Let’s walk this path together with presence, courage, and a little more ease.
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With gratitude,
Chantal
