As elite sports continue to develop and professionalize, athletes’ probability of sustaining an injury is higher than ever before. Busy training and competition schedules, overload, and improper rest or training habits can all lead to a higher risk of injury to an athlete (Andersen & Williams, 1988, p. 300). When elite athletes do get injured, they are often left with months of rehabilitation and physiotherapy away from their team and normal training environment. This research conducts an investigation of perceptions of long-term rehabilitation, different types and sources of social support an elite athlete receives during the rehabilitation process, and a determination of which social factors facilitate a strong recovery the most. The findings could lead to improved mental and physical health outcomes for elite athletes undergoing long-term rehabilitation. Qualitative content analysis of six interviews with Swedish elite female athletes determined the social situational factors that either facilitated or debilitated the long-term injury recovery process. 

The main conclusions of this study are that each part of an athlete’s support network has a role to play in facilitating a healthy recovery. Sport-specific medical professionals such as sports physiotherapists and sports psychologists are perceived as most supportive during rehabilitation, athletes’ family and friends play key roles in supporting physical rehabilitation and socialization in the absence of the training environment, engaging in sport-related exercises is helpful to athletes who are not ready to fully participate in training, and consistent, nonjudgmental coach support is perceived as encouraging and necessary for a physically and mentally healthy rehabilitation. The factors perceived as most debilitating were isolation from the training group and isolation from the training environment, as well as the coordination of medical professionals and resources. The perception of major injury and available resource networks differed between the sports each athlete competed in, and further research investigating a larger number of sports could lead to a better understanding of how to improve athlete support from all sides during long-term rehabilitation. More can be done to develop an optimized rehabilitation system for elite athletes, and this research intends to contribute to that effort.