Stacy Labelle

Stacy Labelle came to 3DPT Hainesport after suffering a tear to her ACL while practicing Wing Chun Kung Fu, a martial art she’s been practicing for 9 years. Stacy participated in Prehab before surgery to improve strength and then is now coming for rehab aiming to get back to her practice. She has worked really hard and has been consistent with therapy to achieve her goal of returning to general life activities and her sport. She is pushing herself to better improve her overall mechanics that may have lead to the injury.

Here’s what Stacy had to say about her injury and time at 3DPT Hainesport

Tell us about what brought you to physical therapy and how this affected your life.

Wing Chun Kung Fu has been my hobby and practice for 9 years now. This martial art was established by two women yet there are few of us training in it. Because of the benefit of being able to protect myself mentally and physically and having fun doing it, I made a promise early in my training that I would become a teacher, a Sifu, for my own benefits and to be able to show and bring more females in to the art, if I could. In March, I was participating in an extra-curricular sparing class where I ruptured my left ACL during a kicking exercise. This put a halt to my training. 

Tell us a little about your recovery process. What has been the hardest part of your therapy? 

The process involves getting back flexibility then balance and strength. A one-word description of the process: gentle. Healing has to happen before the recovery work can begin. When it’s time to work, you work gently from a place of strength. This gentle approach can make the work feel slow because you work small at first. Getting good balance back has been the most difficult but Kaitlin keeps giving me new challenges to beat.

What advice would you give to other people who suffered similar injuries or going through the same situation?

I had 6 weeks between my initial visit with the surgeon and surgery. My surgeon at Rothman Orthopedics recommended that I start physical therapy before the surgery. I took a few of those weeks to visit and interview a multitude of physical therapy offices to find a group that took my insurance, that would be best suited for my injury and my recovery goals, and where I would have a good rapport with the people I’d be working with.

1) For about 3 months, plan on a low activity level, and, I limited the number of times I used the stairs in the house.

2) I needed the pain drugs the surgeon prescribed when the nerve block wore off 9 days later; just for a few days.

3) I mostly wore the full leg brace when I was away from my house.

4) Go to your PT sessions. Do the exercises at home: Pick one, do one set – it’ll be motivating.

5) Take a short walk.

In this video you can See Stacy practicing blocks at Wing Chun Kung Fu Academy before her injury and then at 3DPT during her physical therapy rehab.

Why would you recommend 3 Dimensional Physical Therapy?

3DPT met all my criteria when I was interviewing offices. 3DPT had locations that were local to me. This helped as I didn’t want to be out for very long within those first weeks post-surgery. The owner of the two offices I visited took the time to talk to me about what to expect during the recovery process. The conversations were professional and positive, and they were familiar with my surgeon’s protocols.

Kaitlin runs the Hainesport facility. I’ve been seeing her twice a week for 4 months now. She keeps things simple. There are only a few pieces of gym equipment which surprised me at first. She uses simple equipment like foam pads, step stools, and exercise bands to great effect. This gives me no excuses to not be doing the work at home or to not continue to do them beyond my time at 3DPT. She has the answers to all of my whys; as, I’m taking the opportunity to learn as much as I can about what I’m doing so I can use this to stay healthy and strong beyond my recovery time. 

What are you most looking forward to and/or able to do now that you may not have been able to do with your injury?

Without the ACL repair surgery, I was told I would not be able to continue training at the level that I was at. Specifically, the twisting moves required would be detrimental to my existing knee structure. I’m looking forward to fully getting back to and then completing my last few levels to reach Sifu status.