No one wants to hear the words "complete rupture" in the context of sports injuries. It can be devastating news to hear and an overwhelming recovery process to get you head around. From the injury, getting scans and seeing the specialist, it can be a tough world to navigate. Fortunately, my sister Katie, recently had reconstructive surgery on her ACL. She has kindly offered to share her experience and help shed some light of a stressful process.
"I suffered my first serious injury playing netball in late June this year. Being a fitness instructor and my hobbies involving gym/netball, this shook my life quite a bit. Immediately after the excruciating injury I instantly knew I had done serious damage. Two days later I booked in for an MRI at my local hospital, having to wait about 5 days all up to get in. Within 24 hours my GP received the results and told me over the phone I had completely ruptured my ACL. This was the worst news I could have received, having both parents done this injury I knew 12 months off netball was required which I was gutted about.
Next step was to choose a surgeon. This was a challenge for me as being so young and physically active I knew I wanted to invest in who I chose. I did my research & looked at reviews, pricing, availability and asked around town, this lead me to Dr Rohan Price at Epworth Richmond. From here, I let my GP know who I had chosen, he then sent Dr Rohan a referral. He took about 3 weeks to get into, from the consult I was booked into surgery 2 weeks later. This was a huge shock for me as I know a lot of people going public (I went privately) have been waiting 6-12 months. So I was absolutely thrilled to be in so soon.
I am now 2 Weeks post op. Day 1 post Surgery for me honestly was a huge challenge, I definitely didn’t expect the amount of pain that came with recovery. However by day 3, I was a completely different person. Every day I have more movement, less pain and I’m finding that a really satisfying experience. Really looking forward to getting back into the gym and building up strength in the coming weeks"