Mehtap Erdogan
Medicine Science - 2026;15(2):653-657
This study aimed to investigate sports injury anxiety levels among American football players in relation to demographic and training variables. Thirty-five athletes from Sakarya participated in the study, and data were collected using the Sports Injury Anxiety Scale (SIAS). The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to assess normality, and the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for group comparisons. The results indicated that sports injury anxiety differed significantly according to the level of play and years of sports participation. Professional athletes reported higher levels of pain anxiety than amateur athletes (p<0.05). Players with fewer than three years of participation reported greater "Anxiety of Losing Social Support" than those with longer experience (p<0.01). No significant differences were observed in terms of training frequency, education level, or surgical history (p>0.05). These findings highlight the need to consider the psychological and physical consequences of injuries and emphasize the importance of integrating psychological support into rehabilitation programs for American football players.
