Kylie had been a three-sport athlete since 6th grade. In November of 2019, she had just begun her 8th grade basketball season. She was really excited for the season because she was captain, and she was the team leader as point guard. The third game of the season and they had just come off two big wins. It was the third quarter and as she headed down to the basket, she did a fake, felt a pop and went to the floor. She tried to get up and couldn’t walk. Her teammates helped her off the court. That was the beginning of her recovery story.

The orthopedic surgeon that we saw described Kylie’s injury by saying she “exploded” her ACL. There was pretty much nothing left. They were also concerned that she had torn her meniscus. We would have to wait to see at the time of surgery. The injury happened the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so imaging and appointments were squeezed in around the holidays, but her surgeon recommended pre-PT to start preparing her for what she would go through having a quad tendon autograft ACL repair and potential meniscus repair at barely 14-years-old. Kylie turned 14 on December 21st and had her surgery on January 9th, 2020. She began pre-PT with Austin in December before the surgery and then picked back up immediately after the surgery. Twice a week, for months, through a pandemic, in a mask, Kylie went to PT with Austin… Austin was encouraging and challenging and made it fun for a teenage girl who was scared and depressed and in pain. I believe that a big part of Kylie’s quick recovery was directly related to the care that she received from Austin. 

She looked forward to going and challenging herself because of Austin. She wasn’t afraid to do more because Austin made her feel safe to push her body beyond what she thought she could. Kylie says, “He was always encouraging, and we could talk about anything and he helped me not just focus on working out.” 

Kylie was fully released to play by the next basketball season, October 2021. She is currently not only playing Varsity in all three sports again, but she is a starter for all three where she has received awards including 2nd Team All-State in soccer. As of February 2022 (the beginning of soccer) she was released from wearing her brace and deemed fully cleared by Ortho with no greater risk of injury.