MCDFNL - Former Navarre Football Club coach Ben Martin is recovering after undergoing a full knee reconstruction on his right knee nearly two weeks ago.
The operation, performed by Doctor Andrew Shimmin at Glenferrie Private Hospital on Thursday, March 8, has so far been successful.
Martin was surprised by how pain-free the knee was immediately after the operation, and only had to spend one day in hospital.
"I went in at about 6.30 in the morning, they put me under at about 8.30-9.00 and by about 10.30 I was out. By lunchtime, they had me doing laps of the room on crutches and by 6.30 that night, I was in the car and on the way home," Martin said.
"They gave me strong painkillers, but I didn't need to take them. There was no pain in the knee at all. I was expecting some sort of pain.
"The nurses kept asking me what the pain was on a scale from zero to ten, and I was saying zero."
Martin, who had to have his knee in a splint for 10 days following the reconstruction, said there were no were surprises when Dr Shimmin, assisted by head physiotherapist at AFL club Western Bulldogs, Gary Zimmerman, opened the knee up.
"They cut four holes, and two of these were just below the knee cap. They went in, and sucked the anterior cruciate and cleaned it up. It was exactly what they were expecting - the anterior cruciate ligament had fully ruptured. The doctor said the operation went pretty well," he said.
Martin said the most painful part of the process was the ache in his hamstring, where they took a part of the muscle to replace the ruptured ligament in his knee.
At the moment, his focus is on foot movements and keeping the strength in his quad muscles.
Martin faces a crucial time, previously saying that the four to eight week mark is where the hamstring muscle is at its most vulnerable to tear.
However once it becomes a tendon in the knee, he will work on strengthening it.
Martin had to return to Dr Shimmin yesterday, where he was expecting to have a couple of stitches from his knee removed as well as the splint.
"He'll do a re-assessment, and we'll figure out what to do in terms of physio in Stawell," he said.
Martin now faces 12 months on the sidelines while he recovers from the operation, and hopes to be back to 100 per cent for Navarre's 2013 pre-season.
Article from Stawell Times
Last Modified on 10/04/2012 14:25