Young patients and athletes typically encounter some challenges with injury or surgery preparation and recovery. Orthopedic psychology can help young patients and athletes maintain motivation for a successful preparation as well as recovery from injury or surgery with a confident return to activity.

Examples of goals with an orthopedic psychology visit:

• Adjustment to injury: A young athletes' reactions to injury can include denial, disappointment, sadness and frustration.
• Adjustment to recovery process: Kids and teens often feel frustrated with the pace of progress in the recovery process. Sometimes they lose motivation because they do not see significant gains at a fast pace. Young patients can have anxiety or doubt about their ability to fully recover.
• Preparation for surgery: For patients with injuries that require surgery, there is a lot of anticipation or fear around what surgery is like or what it will be like afterward.  Working with an orthopedic psychologist can help kids and teens prepare for their surgery.
• Return to sport: Young athletes may worry about re-injury, not being as good as they were prior to the injury, losing their spot on a team and reaching their performance goals.

Expert pediatric care: The Children's Wisconsin Orthopedics Program is one of the only orthopedic programs in the area that provides psychology services. With the integration of psychologists into our orthopedic program, our medical and psychology teams can work together to provide the best care for your child or teen.