Pain To Pleasure
10/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 14, 2003
By Jay Reddick
The letters A-C-L have become an everyday part of the sports fan's lexicon. Anterior cruciate ligament tears and ruptures have become more common as athletes get larger and more athletic, and as a result, the rehabilitation of the injury has gotten shorter and more refined.
The posterior collateral ligament, which lies deeper inside the knee, is not as well-known. The largest ligament in the back of the joint, it is involved in only 7 percent of knee injuries.
The preceding medical minute was brought to you by Kenna Healy, Wake Forest goalkeeper, who has first-hand knowledge of PCL injuries. In fact, she says, "I'm still playing soccer right now because of my orthopedic surgeon."
And the redshirt junior is playing well, leading the Deacons to an 8-1-1 record over the first month of the season, with an 0.65 goals-against average and five shutouts.
Healy's knee injury happened during her senior year at Archmere Academy in Delaware. The two-sport athlete was playing basketball that March when her knee buckled. Doctors told her she would need reconstructive surgery, and definitely would never play soccer again.
Healy never let that stop her. She had surgery on the knee three times over the next year, including a major reconstruction. She then played with pain the next season, seeing action in four games backing up Erin Regan (and allowing no goals) but had another surgery to strengthen the knee in the winter of 2002.
Since then, it's been nothing but good times for Healy - if you ignore the sprained ankle that left her in a walking boot for eight weeks this summer. But after everything that has happened, Healy was able to see the bright side of that.
"Looking back, as frustrating as it was, I think it was good to give my body some rest," Healy said.
Healy started two games behind Regan last year but knew that her time to shine was coming this fall.
"The past couple of years, my main job has been to train hard and be there in case anything came up," Healy said. "I got to see a lot and pay attention to how things are organized, especially the defense. It allowed me to grow. Sometimes it does get frustrating to work so hard and know your chance might not come for a little while, but it's taught me a lot."
Besides taking the field for Wake Forest, Healy has had plenty to occupy her time. She took the second semester of her freshman year off to fully rehabilitate the injury and said that her treatment during that time solidified her commitment to the school.
She started school with her class in August of her freshman year but soon decided to take some time off from school to concentrate completely on her rehab.
"I actually took my final exams that semester before Thanksgiving, then took the next semester off," Healy said. "Everyone was so helpful and understanding; I had deans checking on me after my surgery."
The ordeal also helped her decide on a possible career path in medicine. A Health and Exercise Science major, she has taken some pre-med classes, but says medical school is just one of several options she is considering.
"It's med school, or a big question mark," Healy said. "Hopefully, I'll figure that out soon."
She spent some time this summer working in an emergency room and called that an eye-opening experience.
"I really enjoyed that, but I'm not sure if I would enjoy the lifestyle," Healy said. "The part that was really interesting to me was the team aspect of it, how close all the doctors were, helping each other out."
If she does choose medicine, she hopes to become as good as the doctors who treated her.
"I've been really fortunate to have outstanding care," Healy said. "I've learned the difference a doctor can make."
