Auerbacher Working Her Way Back from a Knee Injury

Michele Auerbacher is a senior starting guard for the women's basketball team. She injured her right knee on 12/1/07 in a game at King's College. At the time of her injury she was averaging 8.7 points, 2.5 assists and 5 rebounds per game. She was injured in a collision that put a varus force on her knee, which we were able to review on game film. Initially we thought she had a mild LCL sprain. She returned to play on 12/5 for limited minutes with her knee braced. She then had an orthopedic eval and an MRI was ordered. Michele played again on 12/8, but reported an increase in her symptoms and we removed her from participation until her MRI results were obtained.

Her MRI and follow-up xrays revealed a tibial plateau fracture, almost more consistent with a stress fracture. Based on these results Michele was removed from participation through 1/20/08. She began rehab with us on 1/4/08. Her progession for the following three weeks was stationary bike, elliptical, then treadmill, in addition to her strengthening and proprioception rehab. Michele is currently on the treadmill aspect of her rehab and if all goes well we hope to progress her back on the court for practice and then games during the week of 1/21/08. (1/1708)

Update (1/29/08):
Michele progressed very well through her return to play protocol and practiced full with the team on Tuesday 1/22/08 and played 15 minutes in their game on 1/23. However, when she reported for rehab on 1/24 she had an increase in her symptoms and knee pain. We removed her from her rehab activities and all participation through the weekend. She did not have a significant improvement with the rest. She began rehab again today and we will keep her out of all impact activities until she has a follow-up orthopedic evaluation early next week.

Updated 2/11/08:
Michele returned to the orthopedist last week and the remainder of her season was terminated. She is cleared for non impact activities only (bike/ elliptical). She will be betting a follow-up MRI at the end of February. She will continue a modified rehab program until her next orthopedic follow-up.

2/11/08