Conditions + Treatments
ACL Injury/Reconstruction
Meniscus Tear
My name is Kate Murray and I am from Birmingham, Alabama. I began playing soccer as early as four years old and have loved it ever since. When I was eight years old, my family moved to Birmingham and I began playing competitive soccer for the largest club team in Alabama, the Birmingham United Soccer Association (BUSA).
In middle school, I made the junior varsity soccer team in both my 7th and 8th-grade year. As a freshman at Oak Mountain High School, I made the junior varsity team again, but was soon called up to varsity as a goalie.
In 2021, the AHSAA sanctioned girls’ flag football as an official sport. Me and a couple of my friends decided it would be fun to play flag football, in addition to soccer, our senior year.
During a game versus Helena High School, I was playing in the wide receiver position. As I jumped in the air to catch the football, my knee collided with another girl. As soon as I took a step, I heard a pop. I felt some initial pain, but was able to keep playing. The situation was really scary because our flag football coach also happened to be my soccer coach. We were both worried about what an injury could mean for me as the starting goalie.
With the assistance of our school’s athletic trainers, I was able to very quickly get an appointment at Andrews Sports Medicine a couple of days after my injury. Dr. Jody Ortega examined my knee, recommended me for an MRI, and referred me to Dr. Lyle Cain for a surgical consult. During my initial office visit with Dr. Cain, he confirmed that I had torn both my ACL and meniscus and would need surgery.
On September 22, 2022, I had surgery with Dr. Cain for ACL reconstruction and meniscus repair. The first two weeks were very challenging, I had to miss my senior homecoming and started physical therapy immediately. However, I was committed to getting back on the field to play my senior season of soccer in the spring. I put in hard work at physical therapy and at home.
Thanks to the doctors at Andrews Sports Medicine and my physical therapy team, I was able to get back on the soccer field for the last 15 games of the season. Despite my injury, I was able to overcome and make the 2023 Birmingham All-Metro Second Team!
Although my injury was overwhelming at times, I discovered a passion for medicine and now have plans to study pre-medicine (microbiology) at Auburn University in the fall with hopes of becoming an Orthopedic surgeon.
I would highly recommend Andrew's Sports Medicine. They treated me so well and I was able to achieve Victory Over Injury quickly!
