Hi,     My name is Matt and I’m 15 years old. My ACL went while I was playing football. I went in for a challenge twisting my knee, as I did so my knee sort of popped. I couldn’t move my leg because it was already swelling up.

    After a few days the swelling went and my knee was fine. So I thought I could play football again, but it was every second game that I had to go off because I would twist and then it would swell.

   I was getting very frustrated, so we decided to go and have it checked out. I went to see Mr Lewis and he told me that I had damaged my ACL. He also mentioned that I would have to have an operation. This put my confidence really low because I knew I would be out of football for a long time. I had a scan to see if there was any other damage to my knee.

    Mr Lewis then explained the op and what he was going to do.  He then gave sent me some information to me which was all about the op and what i had to do before and after the op. It also had the rehab programme in which was very interesting to read.

     On the day of the op I was nervous but I just wanted them to get on with it. I remember waking up and my knee felt really heavy, then I saw it was in a brace. Mr Lewis came to see me and said the operation had gone well.

      After this, I had to try and use my crutches. This went ok but I was still really sleepy so couldn’t really walk.

      I was only in hospital for a day. Before I came home the staff gave me some painkillers and told me to keep the knee brace on for 24 hours.

      Once I had started getting use to using my crutches and could walk with them I started going to physio. The first few weeks she was just trying to get me to walk normally with my crutches without a limp. After I could do this I went twice a week. The exercises were limited but there were really just concentrating on trying to bend it and get my knee back to use. This part of physio was quite boring but she said it would get more interesting. Now when I look back this was properly the most important part of the rehab.

     I had to do exercises three times a day and I did get fed up but I knew that it would make my knee stronger. Mr Lewis said that the operation was the easy part and only 1/3 of the treatment the rest was the physio and my commitment.

      In the middle of the physio, I did get a bit sick and tired of doing exercises because it didn’t look like my knee was improving.

   When it got to about 6 months I went back to see Mr Lewis and he told me that I was coming on fine and that I could play golf. He also wanted to see me in 2 months.

      So 2 months past and my knee felt as strong as ever. I went back to see Mr Lewis and he made me do a couple of test just to see if my knee was as strong as my other one. Then he I could go back to sports. When he said these words, I was so happy and made me realise how important the physio was.

   As I am writing this I have already played a Match and a Half.

A big thank you to Mr Lewis and his team, and also to my physio Valerie, who made my physio fun!

                                    Regards Matt.      

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