Athletic injuries can be devastating occurrences in an athlete's career. The reactions and responses that occur due to the injury can impact the athlete in his/her recovery and return to sport. Therefore. the purpose of the study was to explore the psycho-emotional response to athletic injury, rehabilitation. and readiness to return in NCAA Division II collegiate athletes by exploring their experiences in real time: at the time of injury through rehabilitation and return to sport. This study used qualitative methods to uncover psycho-emotional responses to athletic injury rehabilitation and readiness to return. This study utilized interviews and daily journals over eight weeks. Twelve (5 females, 7 males) NCAA Division II athletes from eight sports (women's basketball, men's lacrosse, softball, women's soccer, track & field, football, baseball, and wrestling) participated in the study. Through the interviews and daily journal entries obtained post injury, during rehabilitation, and upon return to sport, four emergent themes were uncovered: emotional reaction to injury, injury produces social implications, motivation as a driving factor for recovery, and rehabilitation experience impacts view of injury and return. Emotional reaction to injury includes negative and positive emotions at initial injury, followed by a mood change through the process of recovery. The social implications that accompany athletic injury include positive and negative support from the social support system the athletes' interact with daily. The motivation factor as a driving component is a result of these athletes internal drive to return to sport and play. All of these emergent themes can impact the rehabilitation experience and ultimately the view of the injury and the return. If the rehabilitation experience is negative the views of the injury and the return will be negative until the situation can be guided in a positive way. These results illustrate the repercussions after sustaining an athletic injury that results in the athlete being removed from regular sport
