Power Therapy for Sports Performance

*Dr Sarel Jacobus Vorster MBChB

ABSTRACT

Background:  Choking and sports anxiety is associated with sub-optimal performance in professional athletes and attributed to psychology—mind. However, many professional athletes across sports report that they experience physical problems even in the absence of anxiety and choking. They blame an organ or organs for causing inconsistencies under pressure. In this study, the author agreed with the athletes and neural correlated signs and symptoms to focus on specific organ areas.

Aim: The author acknowledges professional athletes’ reports and focuses on a physical, brain—organ reason for sub-optimal elite athlete performance. The author aims to expand on available research on brain ability in plasticity and neurogenesis.  

Case Study:  A male, the 21-year-old amateur golfer, was not progressing in his career, and his handicap gradually regressed from +1(best handicap) to scratch between 2016- 2019. Choking aside, he blamed this on various physical experiences such as muscle tightening and inconsistency in feeling comfortable in the backswing. Between June 2019- September 2019, Power Therapy, a novel neurology—psychotherapy, was used to intervene and demerge assumed changed pathway links between the hippocampus and amygdala. The aim was to stabilize and reconstruct a hippocampus—amygdala “boundary.” No changes were made to the following athlete cornerstones: 1). Ethics/Lifestyle 2). Technique 3). Mental coaching and sports psychology 4). Equipment.

Result: Between June 2019 and September 2019, the player progressed from a mid-table position to winning the order of merit in the amateur scratch league, with a handicap improvement from scratch to +3. He attributed this to playing with more freedom and experiencing more periods of “comfortable.” He was motivated to turn professional two months later and entered Q-school in a European tour affiliated tour. He missed his playing rights following a poor first round at Q school. He won a professional tournament on a European feeder tour six months later. He reported ongoing effectiveness with progressive improvement and declared a positive outlook for the future when interviewed in October 2020 during a COVID interrupted season.

Conclusion: The author proposes more comprehensive research on this subject underpinned by evidence-enhancing tools: controls, psychological, neurological metric protocols, brain scanning.