Conditions + Treatments
ACL Injury/Reconstruction
My name is Martha Hurt, and I am a recent graduate of Pike County High School. While in high school, I worked towards earning both my high school diploma and my associate's degree.
I played different sports throughout my childhood, including gymnastics and cross country. However, I was surrounded by softball and baseball, so it was no surprise when I started playing softball when I was 8 years old.
After overcoming 4 torn ACLs during my middle and high school years, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue my academic and athletic career at Tuskegee University. My career goal is to become a physical therapist, which is heavily influenced by successfully overcoming so many serious injuries during my sports career.
I suffered my first ACL tear during my 7th grade year playing softball for junior high team. Our family was living in Phenix City, Alabama at the time, and it was during our first game of the season. I remember that we were not doing great in the early innings of the game, but eventually, our bats got “really hot.” I was playing shortstop and there was a runner on second base that I was trying to prevent her from scoring. While jumping in the air to catch the ball, the runner on second base ran into me. I instantly fell to the ground in immediate pain and I watched the remainder of the game from the dugout.
As the days went on, the pain in my knee started to ease off but I was unable to straighten it out. Ultimately, my parents and I visited a doctor in Atlanta, Georgia with hopes that they could help me. Results showed that I had sprained my MCL and torn both my ACL and meniscus. This was devastating to hear as this meant that I was going to need surgery with recovery time ranging between 6-9 months.
My road to recovery to get back on the softball field was more of a struggle than I could have ever imagined. I fell into this false belief that I was lazy and did not want it bad enough. It ultimately took me 11 months to get cleared to play softball again; however, I knew that something was off because I was still experiencing pain in my knee that would never go away. Ultimately, I would play through the pain, but everything would quickly go downhill 9 months later.
One day while we were doing run-downs in practice, I came to a very sudden stop causing me to go down because the same knee had popped, and I soon learned that I had torn my ACL for the second time. This took such a mental toll on me, as I was always down on myself and never left the house.
My parents had done some online research and learned about Andrews Sports Medicine and their renowned orthopaedic surgeons that specialize in sports medicine. More notably, she learned about Dr. Lyle Cain and the work he has done specifically with the University of Alabama’s football team.
We traveled to Birmingham, Alabama where we saw Dr. Cain. While performing my surgery, he discovered that the ACL graft from the first surgery had been put in too tight, which explained why my initial recovery was unusual and why I continued to have knee pain. I was extremely grateful to Dr. Cain, and I was cleared to play once again three months later. Little did I know that it would not be the last time that I would see him.
After moving to Georgia and moving to a different school, I decided to try basketball. This led to me seeing Dr. Cain for a second time, as I ended up dislocating my kneecap and tearing both my ACL and MCL on the opposite leg in my pursuit of playing basketball. Following this experience, I made sure to stay committed to working hard in the gym but still taking precautions where necessary to avoid missing my senior year softball season.
However, a powder puff game that I participated in completely threw me off track. During this game, I tore my ACL once again. Along with continuing to work hard, I made the decision that I had to do something different during my recovery. I decided to lean more on my faith, praying every single night and continuously keeping God first in everything that I did. Truly, that was the missing piece.
Throughout my journey, I had always worried about whether or not I would ever have the opportunity to earn a scholarship and continue my passion for playing softball on a collegiate level. Then, the unexpected happened. Dr. Cain had informed me that to be cleared to play again, I needed a 10-15% deficit on my BIODEX results.
While I was not expecting to be cleared anytime soon, both Dr. Cain and I were surprised to learn that my deficit was 15% on my first BIODEX test, allowing me to continue playing and eventually commit to Tuskegee University. Looking back, this was one of the more notable times in my life when I saw how God can truly make an impact on someone’s life.
I would not be here without my faith and the love and support from everyone around me, including my parents, Mark and Tamika Hurt, and my siblings, Ariana, Mark, and Madison Hurt. Also, this would not have been possible without Dr. Cain and his entire team at Andrews Sports Medicine. Even when others did not believe in my ability to overcome, Dr. Cain never once gave up on me and always believed that I could persevere and overcome these obstacles.
My name is Martha Hurt, and I believe in Victory Over Injury!
