A total of 20 participants were interviewed on a voluntary basis (7 competitive athletes with 17 physical disabilities, 4 physiotherapists, 5 coaches and 4 psychologists)

This study used a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive methodology, with a semi-structured interview technique. The purpose was to respond to the specific objectives set out in this research from the perspective of competitive athletes and sports agents (physiotherapist, coach and psychologist). The thematic cores that served as a script for the interview were for the athletes and sports agents 1) sporting characteristics of the professionals; 2) perception of how pain affects this type of athlete and what repercussions it has on the development of their sporting career, and 3) knowledge of techniques and/or strategies for pain management (athlete, coach and psychologist).

The interviews were conducted via skype. After transcription of all the interviews, validation by the interviewees was applied for the reliability of the research. Two types of triangulation were applied to ensure the quality of the data.

This research focuses on the subjective reality of individuals regarding their life experiences of how pain can affect a sporting career. It was based on a relativistic ontology, situated in an overlapping phenomenological and interpretative epistemology.The organisation of the information collected was carried out with "Nuevo NVivo" text processing software. The codes extracted from the thematic analysis were entered. Followed by a thematic analysis of their content and according to the specific objectives of the study. The steps followed were those proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006). Two types of triangulation were applied (Flick, 2014): investigator and data triangulation.

Pain has a negative impact on the athlete's sporting career: directly or indirectly through the psychological consequences. Athletes perceive that support of a psychologist are performance oriented and not pain management.