(faced-paced upbeat music)
(skating shoes rolling)
- It feels great to be back on the ice.
It was something that I didn't realize
was such a big part of my life
that until the prospect of
not being able to do it again,
came about.
I really missed it,
it's wonderful to be able to play again.
(fast-paced upbeat music)
There were a bunch of
players in front of the net,
I played defense
and I was trying to push
the other team's forward out of the way,
and
to be fair to her, I sort
of pushed her onto me
but she fell into my knee
and it just buckled inward
and I knew instantly
something was horribly wrong.
(slow-paced upbeat music)
- So Nathalie came to me,
with instability in her
knee that was chronic.
So you can either reconstruct the ligament
with a tendon from
somewhere else in the body,
or you can choose to repair.
In Nathalie's case, we chose
to repair the ligament.
Instead of reconstructing the knee,
I was able to stitch the
ligament back put it into place,
and we're also added something
called an internal brace,
which is a braided
high-tensile strength suture
that runs right alongside the ligament
and acts like a checkering
while it's trying to heal during
the rehabilitation process.
- I started physical therapy
shortly after the procedure,
and I was surprised at how quickly
I was returning to full range of motion
and the lingering feeling
of instability that I'd had
when, I first injured my knee
and wasn't sure if I'd
torn my ACL, that was gone
and it really was just about
rebuilding all of my muscles
And getting that strength back.
But the instability I felt,
go away pretty much instantly.
I don't feel like I have any limitations
with the knee
that I had surgery on.
And
often times it feels stronger
than my other knee that was never injured.
I hiked Machu Picchu last year
and my previously injured
knee held up better than
my other old knee and I don't
feel limited in any way.
I am
enormously grateful
for MedStar Healthcare Center.
I really appreciate that
such high quality physicians are available
at honestly moment's notice
to regular people like me,
and sharing those physicians
with some of the world-class
athletes in the area,
It's
pretty amazing.
(slow-paced upbeat music)
