#PTStar for August – Rebecca Colandrea

Condition:

Rebecca, a 19-year-old female, was playing softball for her college team at University of the Sciences in Philadelpia in March when she sustained a lateral blow to her knee, resulting in ACL, MCL, and LCL tears. She first attended physical therapy at the Milltown/East Brunswick office for 7 sessions of “prehab” (physical therapy rehab, pre-operatively) before undergoing surgical repair in May. She returned for physical therapy after her surgery and has been attending consistently since then. She will be finishing up at Jersey PT this week, as she will be heading back to college for the fall semester and will resume physical therapy there.

Motivation:

Rebecca is highly motivated and has been fully dedicated to her recovery. She pushed herself from day one, despite how difficult and painful her recovery was at times. She did all of her home exercises and was compliant with wearing her brace (for even longer than the average ACL tear, since she also tore her LCL and MCL). She is motivated to get back on the field to play softball next Spring.

Attendance:

Perfect, for 3 times per week for the past 3 months

Improvements:

It has been amazing to see Rebecca transform throughout her physical therapy. She has pushed herself so hard, and it has been remarkable to see her confidence elevate and her strength improve, both physically and mentally.

When Rebecca first came to physical therapy for “prehab”, she wore a knee immobilizer brace at all times. She performed some light stretching and strengthening exercises to prepare her for her surgery and to improve her range of motion. Then, when she came to physical therapy after her surgery, she wore the same knee immobilizer with her knee locked into straight extension, walked with two crutches and was non-weight bearing on her affected leg.

Over the next few months, she gradually was allowed to put more weight onto that leg, she weaned off of her crutches, and she was eventually able to unlock her brace so that she could walk normally. Now, she is full weight-bearing, does not use crutches, and wears a lighter sleeve brace for some extra support. She is making steady progress each week, and is now working on higher level activities on weight machines, walks up and down the stairs normally, and performs squats, single leg balance tasks, and stationary biking.

The next phase of her rehab course will be starting agility, hopping, and light jogging. She will be running and training for softball before she knows it!

Quote:

“The staff has been very supportive of my injury and progress pre and post surgery. Laura and Mike always knew how to cheer me up when I was frustrated. I have come such a long way in these past 3 months and I can’t wait to see more progress in the coming months.”