Rehabilitation compliance in an athletic training environment

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the rehabilitation adherence of athletes and their self-reported assessment of six variables that might influence rehabilitation adherence: pain, support from others, exertion, scheduling, motivation, and environment. Each of 44 Division II athletes sustained a musculoskeletal injury and was placed on a rehabilitation program. Adherence to the program was measured by attendance at and participation in scheduled rehabilitation sessions. Each athlete was classified as adherent (n = 27) or nonadherent (n = 17). Pain and support were significantly correlated to adherence. Pain and support from others were significantly different between the adherent and nonadherent groups. Principal components analysis was also performed and confirmed the t-test results that pain and support are the only subscales strongly associated with adherence scores. We conclude that controlling pain and providing emotional support is associated with sport rehabilitation adherence.