Blog

Eyes on the Goal

When Austin “Auzzy” Williams heard that telltale “pop” in his leg during soccer practice, his heart sank as he thought about all he could potentially lose. 

Auzzy had just made an elite traveling soccer team in Atlanta called the Concorde Fire. He had no idea how long a serious knee injury would take him out of the game. To a passionate young athlete like Auzzy, every single month and every single game matters. Each day off the field is another that he’ll never get back.

Auzzy’s biggest cheerleader, his mom Brandy, felt the same. “For his soccer league, the timeline for an injury is so small … you have to get back out there as quickly as possible,” she said.

Since his traveling soccer team is based out of Atlanta, he’s heard a lot about orthopedic experts from all over the state. He and his family chose to go to Piedmont Ortho’s Walk-In Training Room because of its reputation and because it was close to home. Auzzy was quickly evaluated by one of Piedmont’s athletic trainers who arranged for him to see Dr. Bill Barnes that same morning.

“Dr. Barnes came in and knew immediately what happened once he touched it,” Auzzy said. Auzzy had torn his meniscus. They scheduled his surgery and in less than a week, he started physical therapy at Piedmont’s rehabilitation center.

“The whole staff made us feel at home,” said Brandy. “Auzzy did therapy on his own an hour before school and then another hour after school at Piedmont. The therapy department was always prepared and had techniques to help us push forward. As an athlete, Auzzy is always wanting to push forward. As a parent, they way they treated us made all the difference to me.”

The therapy department designed all of Auzzy’s therapy exercises around his position on the field, which is keeper. This helped Auzzy stay motivated and focused on the end goal.

Auzzy returned to the soccer field just two months after the injury.

“My coaches were really impressed of how strong the knee was right after being cleared,” said Auzzy.

In this competitive environment, returning to the field healthy and ready to play as quickly as possible means everything. The Concorde Fire plays teams from all over the country and are currently doing really well in their East Coast conference.

Whether the patient is a young athlete or someone who just needs to recover quickly to work and take care of their family, Piedmont Orthopaedic focuses on getting people back to their lives faster.

posted 11/30/2017 in Sports Medicine

Tags: soccer, injury, sports injury, torn meniscus, meniscus, knee injury, sports medicine,

Comments:

No comments have been posted.

HTML not allowed, max characters 255, * denotes required field.