In August of 2024 I dislocated my patella for the third time. My MPFL (the ligament which stabilizes the patella) had torn after the second injury, and after the third it became clear that I would need surgery to reconstruct that ligament if I ever wanted to play sports again. So in late September of 2024 I got surgery and began the six month long rehab process. During this time I lost considerable muscle mass in my left leg, and I also lost my overall fitness. After eight weeks in a leg immobilizer, and five months of physical therapy I was almost ready to start sports again, but I wasn't quite there yet. Physical therapy had helped me to gain nearly all of my range of motion back, as well as a substantial amount of muscle (although certainly not all of it), however, it didn't prepare me for the running, cutting and endurance I would need for Ultimate Frisbee. So, for my product I decided to make a recovery program for myself that would prepare me for the season.   

 

This idea came from a study I read during my research phase called “Progressing rehabilitation after injury: consider the ‘control-chaos continuum’”. The study points out that sports are chaotic and unpredictable, as they have other players and objects, sometimes uneven ground, and uneven pace. The idea is to begin recovery with high levels of control, and then ramp up into more chaotic activities over time. That means that in the first weeks of training, athletes should do exercises with high levels of control and predictability in their environment (like isolated muscle exercises, and use of flat, even surfaces when running). Then, over many weeks, they should ramp up the “chaos” element, until they have highly unpredictable and chaotic environments (like running on uneven ground, or implementing moving objects like a ball or frisbee or other players). So, during my experiential learning weeks I created a weekly program that began with high control exercises, and gradually added unpredictable elements over five weeks. I then spent the weeks of February 16th-March 16th actually following this program, and sure enough when the Ultimate season started I was ready to go. 

 

This injury just happened to overlap with the same time frame for my senior project, and so I sort of just went with it. After actually doing the project over the past seven months I've realized how awesome it is that I've been able to turn a major setback into a great learning experience that will have a real impact on my life. My research has genuinely helped me a lot in my recovery process, and one of the best examples is being able to make my own personalized program like this which did a great job preparing me for my return to sports.