PLC Reconstruction Surgery Patient 10 years Post-Op
I decided in April, like, you know what, I'm gonna get back on the surfboard. And I did. And it just like it, I got hooked and I felt for the first time in 11 years gonna make me emotional. Like my body is finally working with me again and I felt super alive and super in the zone.
my name's Nicole and I have had a posterolateral corner reconstruction. Is that right? And I've had rehab on a very sprained ankle. I've had rehab on a frozen shoulder and my daughter has had rehab on a sprained ankle.
So I started I had a bad ski injury 10 years ago, 11 years ago was with another doctor for two surgeries, they went okay, but he missed a big problem in my knee. And I was feeling pretty crazy and pretty hopeless because I wasn't able to get better. And I was really young at the time. And so I self-referred out of that practice and I found Dr. Stone and I came here because I was desperately trying to get better to have a kid I was trying to get pregnant.
So they like started with me from a really vulnerable place. And I felt super safe and I felt like super seen and sane, which was great. And so that was 11 years ago and I had then had my surgery with him and the team here when my son was seven months old, which was a whole nother thing. So emotionally they've been amazing to support me. And I'm definitely kind of an outlier and these guys are amazing for outliers. So yeah, that happened and I was rehabbing for a long time and then I've had multiple injuries along the way. And they've just been my go-to and physically it's been really rough because I lost a lot of the active kind of stuff that I could do running and anything like cutting and tennis, all that kind of stuff. I don't ski anymore. So I did what I could with what I had, but over the years I've gotten stronger and stronger. And then I just came back to thank him because I started surfing and it's been amazing.
Last summer I just got back out into the water and that was the first thing and I found myself again and then I thought, okay, I wanna get really into the waves. So I'm gonna get on a boogie board cuz I can go on big waves and I'm not, I'm not afraid of them on that. And then I was watching my son surf he's nine now, but he picked it up like that and there was just some connection with like, I gotta be out there doing that, but I was always afraid to get back on because I was afraid of getting bashed by the board or my knee twisting. Like there was a lot of PTSD around my knee and I actually think I've worked on that also just the injury, the PTSD around it and the pain response and how it affects my body. I'm super sensitive. So I think the combination of everything I just was ready for <laugh> for that feeling. And I did, I got back on, I said, one day, I'll try it in April and found the right coach. And I was out there with my son and I got up and I just like, oh wow, okay, here we go. This is it. So, so yeah, that's great.
And my knee’s finally working with me. So it's been a long journey, but these guys have been amazing. And Dr. Stone’s just awesome.
Nicole B. Profile
Injuries to the posterolateral corner (PLC) of the knee joint often occur with ACL ruptures and PCL ruptures. Unfortunately, this injury to the corner of the knee is often missed on the physical examination and even on the MRI.
The posterolateral corner injury results in increased rotation of the lower leg bone (tibia). Therefore, when an ACL or PCL is reconstructed and the posterolateral corner is not reconstructed, abnormal rotational forces cause the ACL or PCL reconstruction to sometimes fail early.
This was Nicole's surgical experience prior to coming to The Stone Clinic. Fortunately, Dr. Stone was able to correct Nicole's persistent knee instability by rebuilding the corner with a donor ligament, which almost always makes the knee feel more stable and protects the central ligaments. Ten years on, Nicole is surfing with her son and enjoying life in a way that was impossible with her prior knee issues.
