Daniel Stacey

Amateur Rugby Player

You often hear of players not returning to fully competitive rugby following this injury – a lot of hard work, experience and knowledge from Balance has got me back playing.

I started visiting Martina Kehoe at Balance in October 2011 following reconstructive keyhole knee surgery to replace my ACL (hamstring graft), having damaged it playing rugby earlier in the year. We set ourselves the goal of getting me back playing the following season and I’m really pleased to say that I was back training for pre-season in August 2012 in time to play in the first league game in September. Total recovery time from surgery to training was 10 months. The support from Martina and the team at Balance was key to my complete recovery.

The first four sessions were crucial to getting the full range of movement back as the swelling reduced and the sensation returned to the knee. As I became more comfortable I attended on a fortnightly-monthly basis to progress my gym programme and check all was going to plan.

I was running within 3 months, aided by regular use of the G-trainer; back into light weights training on the leg within 4 months and running with direction change by 7 months.

Throughout the rehabilitation process Martina brought loads of experience and ideas on repairing the injury, developing an iterative programme to get me back to where I wanted to be.

You often hear of players not returning to fully competitive rugby following this injury – a lot of hard work, experience and knowledge from Balance has got me back playing rugby concern-free.