Patient Story · Video
From recurrent knee swelling — back to volleyball 3 to 5 times a week.
After a prior ACL and meniscus surgery left Jennifer with recurrent knee swelling, Dr. Sabrina Strickland and Dr. Andreas Gomoll at the Hospital for Special Surgery performed a combined high tibial osteotomy and ACL reconstruction. Two years later: 108+ Pilates classes and back to playing volleyball 3–5 times a week.
Watch Jennifer's story
Transcript
In Jennifer's words
Two surgeries, one recovery, back to the sport she loves.
The surgery completely changed my life. I was able to get back into volleyball, something that I really wanted to do.
My name is Jennifer. I am a project manager in a logistics company. I like to play volleyball and Pilates in my free time. I got into volleyball in high school. Injury first started with a micro tear when I was playing volleyball during my offseason. So, I went to the ER. They said I had a micro tear, but it can naturally get better. I didn't really listen to them about not playing sports. So, I went to play handball that summer and I completely tore it. Due to my injury, I had to have an ACL and meniscus surgery with a different doctor in town. And that was in 2010.
When I got back into volleyball, my knee started swelling again. I specifically wanted to find a doctor from HSS. Dr. Strickland and Dr. Gomoll are very active people and I felt like that caused an instant connection. They recommended the HTO surgery and also the ACL reinforcement. So I was able to do both of the surgeries with both doctors.
“Dr. Strickland and Dr. Gomoll are very active people and I felt like that caused an instant connection.” — Jennifer
So they had to explain to me what was going on. They actually had a visual representation of the knee joints and they walked through it step by step. It was actually really easy for me to make the decision because I wanted to get back into volleyball. The ultimate goal for the HTO surgery is to create a gap between my two joints to prevent swelling whenever the two joints brush up against each other whenever I do an active exercise — because my meniscus was gone, or like half of it was naturally degraded. Every time I did an exercise, it would brush against each other and it would cause swelling.
On the day of surgery, Dr. Gomoll started with my HTO surgery. Afterwards, Dr. Strickland came in and did my ACL reinforcement. After surgery, I had a month where I couldn't put pressure on my left foot. So, that was quite hard and tough. Afterwards, I was able to slowly put weight on. I was doing PT almost three times a week for a couple of months. Afterwards, I was able to get into Pilates again.
So, it's been 2 years since my surgery. I was able to continue to do Pilates. I actually reached over 108 classes for my Pilates. The surgery has completely changed my life for the better. I wasn't expecting to play this much volleyball. I played three to five times a week.
Overall, had a very positive experience with Dr. Gomoll and Dr. Strickland's team. I'm a very efficient person, so I appreciate their team being very efficient. I was able to relate to them and that helped ease my worries. I was able to get back into volleyball, something I love, and they were able to change my life for the better.
About the procedures Jennifer had
High Tibial Osteotomy (HTO) is a controlled cut and reposition of the upper tibia that shifts the mechanical axis of the leg from the worn compartment toward the healthy side — opening up a protective gap on the damaged side of the knee. It's a joint-preserving alternative to partial knee replacement in younger active patients. More on joint-preservation osteotomy →
ACL reconstruction rebuilds the central knee stabilizer with a tendon graft. In Jennifer's case, the original ACL repair from 2010 was reinforced as part of the same operation. More on ACL tear surgery →
Read more patient stories
Jennifer's story is one of many. Hear from more of Dr. Strickland's patients in their own words about how they got back to the lives they love.
