THIS IS PART OF THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
Stacie began her journey at OrthoIndy with Dr. Gudeman in January 2014 after she injured her knee competing in a CrossFit competition. For her, this knee injury could affect her quality of life, both personally and professionally.
Stacie is an active person within her community, family and local CrossFit gym. She prides herself in her ability to be in the best shape of her life. At 35 years of age, doing CrossFit is important to remain fit and teach others how to improve their quality of life through functional fitness.
“I enjoy helping folks improve their quality of life through fitness. I personally love achieving skills that I never knew existed or that I didn’t think I could do.”
Knee injury affects lifestyle
Stacie’s work as a physical therapist assistant at a home health care service is a job that requires her to manage various physical tasks. After she sustained her knee injury, Stacie experienced symptoms that affected her ability to do her job effectively and stopped her from being able to work on her physical fitness.
Stacie noticed a decrease in her knee range of motion (ROM) with both flexion and extension as well as atrophy in her quadriceps muscle on her affected side. The injury prompted her to go to the Walk-In Clinic at OrthoIndy where she was seen by a physician assistant. From there, she chose to follow-up with Dr. Scott Gudeman.
OrthoNote: The symptoms Stacie experienced after her knee injury occurs commonly after an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Symptoms like swelling, giving away, pain and decrease ROM can occur immediately or over time.
Why OrthoIndy?
Stacie chose Dr. Gudeman because her husband, who had two previous surgeries with him, had a great experience and outcome. “Dr. Gudeman performed two surgeries for my husband who had great success after each one,” she said.
“Dr. Gudeman was very professional and had a great bed side manner when speaking with me and my husband. I also spoke with many colleagues within my therapy network who highly recommended Dr. Gudeman because they treated his patients and knew their outcomes were successful.”
OrthoNote: Dr. Gudeman performs surgeries to repair various injuries in the knee: menisci, ACL, articular damage. He also performs arthroscopic surgery for the shoulder.
The diagnosis-torn ACL
Dr. Gudeman’s clinic and MRI evaluation revealed that Stacie had sustained a torn ACL. After discussing the results with Dr. Gudeman, Stacie chose to have surgery to reconstruct her ACL. For Stacie, surgery was the best option due to her active lifestyle.
Dr. Gudeman used the GraftLink®All-inside ACL reconstruction technique to reconstruct her ACL using an allograft tendon. “I chose to have surgery so I can return to my active life. I want to play with my kids, I want to do CrossFit and live a healthy lifestyle.”
OrthoNote: An “allograft tendon” is a tendon used from a cadaver, therefore tissue from the patient is not used.
Recovery after knee surgery
At seven months post-op, Stacie said that her biggest struggle isn’t physical, but all mental. “My biggest struggle after surgery is more of a mental struggle. I have had to protect my knee as it heals since early February. It will take time to ‘trust’ this knee as I do not want to re-injure myself. I have full trust in Dr. Gudeman that this was a successful surgery. I am still in the six to nine month window where my graft continues to heal. So I still need to be cautious, even though the competitor in me wants to push it a little harder.”
OrthoNote: An ACL graft using the GraftLink® All-inside ACL reconstruction technique has many advantages. One of which is less post-operative pain. Every patient’s time frame for recovery has potential to be adjusted depending on their progress.
Stacie looks forward to reaching new milestones in the gym and is excited to stay active with her two young boys. “I am grateful for the opportunity to remain active and healthy and have the ability to set new personal records in the gym!”
To schedule an appointment with Dr. Gudeman please call 317.884.5161 or learn more about sports medicine treatment at OrthoIndy.
Schedule an appointment
Your well-being is important to us. Click the button below or call us to schedule an appointment with one of our orthopedic specialists. If your injury or condition is recent, you can walk right into one of our OrthoIndy Urgent Care locations for immediate care. For rehabilitation and physical therapy, no referral is needed to see one of our physical therapists.
