Patient Name: Maggie
Procedure: Knee Surgery
Provider: Dr. Panzarella
Location: Sentara Martha Jefferson
During my junior year of high school, an on-court collision with a volleyball teammate resulted in a serious knee injury. The top half of my leg went one way, and the bottom half went the other. I couldn’t put weight on my leg or straighten it.
The X-rays revealed I had dislocated my knee and torn my medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL), which, the doctors told me, is located on the inside of the knee and holds the kneecap in place. I also had damaged the cartilage under my kneecap.
I saw Dr. Matthew Panzarella, an orthopedic surgeon at Sentara Martha Jefferson for treatment. He was very nice and welcoming, and he gave me a lot of information about my knee and the injury, and how he was going to treat it. I knew I could trust him with fixing my knee.
Dr. Panzarella did reconstructive surgery to replace the injured MPFL with part of my hamstring tendon. This stabilized my knee, he said, and would help prevent future joint damage.
Following the procedure, I had four months of physical therapy to strengthen the knee. I also used an electrical muscle stimulator at home to stimulate the nerve muscles in my quadriceps and help me move again. Dr. Panzarella told me that rehab is super important in cases like mine.
The injury and my recovery have helped push me to be my best on the volleyball court. After struggling to get playing time in previous seasons, I was a team captain at Madison County High School during my senior year and helped lead our team all the way to the state semifinals. I earned first-team all-district and all-region honors, first-team all-Central Virginia honors, and second-team all-state honors.
In the fall of 2020, I’ll be playing volleyball at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, where I plan to major in nursing.
I feel my experience is a true comeback story. Even though I had this injury, it made me come back stronger and get that position on the court. I’ve grown a lot from this experience, and I can’t thank Dr. Panzarella enough for everything he did for me.