Rebound: Train Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries

Written by a leading mental skills coach and a contributing editor to Runner's World, this is a practical guide to building the mental skills athletes need to recover from injury and rebound stronger.

Weaving together personal narratives from athletes, scientific research, and the specialized clinical expertise of mental skills coach Carrie Jackson Cheadle, Rebound contains more than 45 Mental Skills and Drills athletes can use at every phase of their recovery process. These same strategies can help athletes who aren't currently injured reduce their vulnerability to injury and enable any individual to reach new heights within their sport and beyond.

Injuries affect every athlete, from the elite Olympian to the weekend racer. In the moment, a traumatic crash, a torn muscle, or a stress fracture can feel like the most devastating event possible. While some athletes are destroyed by the experience, others emerge from their recovery better, stronger, and more confident than ever.

Not everyone can recover swiftly enough to notch a winning performance in two weeks, of course. However, anyone can toward a swifter, stronger comeback using mental skills, psychological tools that enable them to take control of their recovery and ultimately use the experience to their advantage. Injury and other setbacks are inevitable--but with training, you can learn to overcome them skillfully and confidently, the same way point guards and forwards practice rebounds.

Carrie Jackson Cheadle M.A., is a mental skills expert and nationally known for her expertise in sports performance and psychological recovery from injury. She is the author of On Top of Your Game: Mental Skills to Maximize Your Athletic Performance.

Cindy Kuzma is a Chicago-based journalist with a specialty in fitness and health, a contributing editor at Runner’s World magazine, and co-author of Superfood Swap: The 4-Week Plan to Eat What You Crave Without the C.R.A.P. She earned her master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and has spent the past 15 years writing for national print and online publications, including Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention, espnW.com, VICE, SELF, Prevention, and USA Today magazines. She also contributes audio reporting to The Runner’s World Show and Human Race, podcasts produced by Runner’s World, and is the producer and co-host of #WeGotGoals, a podcast by Chicago-based aSweatLife.com.