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Stepping into an Athlete’s Shoes:
Keagan’s ACL Journey
The injury knowledge that you hold as a PEAK coach, unfortunately, does not keep you immune to sustaining your own injuries. Unfortunately, earlier this year, Chiro coach Keagan experienced this firsthand. In this blog, we hear how Keagan’s injury happened, the challenges he has faced during his recovery and also the positives that he has drawn from the injury so far.
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How It Began
Keagan’s ACL Journey began during a competitive TRL match. Similar to other ACL injury mechanisms, Keagan’s occurred while running at near top speed during a TRL match where he jumped suddenly to catch a ball. With his momentum going one way and his mind wanting to go the other his knee buckled with an audible pop. While in a bit of denial at the time Keagan had a sense deep down of the injury he had sustained but tried to remain positive. Just to add to the challenges the injury occurred just before Easter making it particularly difficult to find somewhere that could do an MRI over the holiday period.
The Diagnosis
After a few suspense-filled days Keagan’s worst fears were confirmed. He had (as what we would describe) done a ‘good job’ sustaining an ACL rupture, both medial and lateral meniscus tears and an MCL sprain. This particularly hit even harder for Keagan as he had planned a holiday for the following week, was hitting strong momentum as a coach at PEAK, and was a month away from achieving his goals of playing Div 1 Club volleyball and breaking his vertical jump record. After months of hard work all of this had to be put on hold
Understandably, Keagan was devastated and described the feeling like he had “hit a brick wall.”
Beginning Keagan's ACL Journey to Recovery
He didn’t let this keep him down and was quick to action the next steps in his road to recovery. Making the decision to opt for surgery, gave Keagan the opportunity to return to sport as safely and quickly as possible. Within just over a week Keagan had surgery and started his rehabilitation journey with his initial focus areas being reducing swelling, improving range of motion and improving muscle activation of the knee. Typically, ACL injuries are given a timeframe of return to sport at 9-12 months however this is combined with ticking off specific outcome measures to ensure a successful return to the rigours of sport.
The Biggest Challenge
For Keagan, “surgery was the easiest part of the process – stopping has been the real challenge.” Not being able to train hard, stay strong and keep pushing himself to achieve his goals has been difficult for him to accept. These motivations in particular are what will put Keagan in great stead to achieve the best results during his rehab. Focusing on the small wins such as using the stairs without knee pain have been important to show how far he has come and that he is progressing.
Finding Positives Through the Process
While there have been a number of challenges from Keagan’s injury he has also drawn positives from the experience.
When asked to reflect, he said:
“I think I will be able to speak more authentically to the struggles and worry that athletes face with their injuries, but to also celebrate the significance of smaller milestones in the pursuit of big goals post injury.”
It has also allowed him to focus some more time and energy on other hobbies and interests such as reading, property investment literacy and professional development.
However, he has not shifted away from those goals he was wanting to achieve earlier this year and has instead shifted the goal posts.
Goals for 2027
Keagan’s goals for 2027 are to make Div 1 Club volleyball, hit 60cm for his vertical jump and last but not least have full confidence in his knee returning to sport.
We can’t wait to see you tick these goals off in 2027 Keagan! We’re all behind you!
Ready to Return Stronger?