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In the fall of his junior year, Rivers football and lacrosse Captain Tim Dick suffered a serious knee injury that threatened to change the trajectory of his athletic career. But there was a road back. The road was a tough one to navigate, and even tougher one to stay on. But stay on it Tim did. With selfless assistance from the Rivers Athletic Training staff, an off-site trainer, and of course Tim's family, Tim was able to surpass everyone's expectations, and return the lacrosse field far earlier than anyone thought. Said the Rivers Athletic Staff said, "Tim displayed an outstanding dedication to rehab. From morning workouts to staying late, to making sure he completes his flexibility and strength work each and every day - he demonstrated a maturity and an attitude to reaching his goal of being better than he was before the injury, that I have rarely seen at the high school level!" To get a better understanding of what exactly Tim's road to recovery entailed, I asked Tim some questions. Below are his replies. -- Q: What game of the season did you obtain your football injury? Who was the opponent, and was the game home or away? A: I tore the PCL in my left knee on October 25, which was the football homecoming game under the lights at Rivers. We were playing St. Georges. We only have one night game a year and its always a popular event at Rivers, so I was really looking forward to playing in that atmosphere in front of a big crowd. Q: What did the trainer tell you after the game about the injury? A: Early in the 1st quarter I landed awkwardly on my knee. It immediately felt funny. Aside from it hurting, I could feel it lock up. Initially I didn’t think much of it because I get a lot of little bruises in the games, so like always I got up and tried to walk it off. I stayed in for one more play on defense and realized something was wrong because I couldn’t run without feeling a sharp pain. I ran over to the sidelines and asked the Athletic Trainer what was wrong. He wasn’t really sure. He assumed it was a hamstring sprain and tried stretching it out, but it didn’t help much. I remember being very angry because I didn’t want to sit out of arguably the biggest game of the season. Despite it hurting to run, I got my knee wrapped up and assured my coach that I was fine. Then I went back in to finish the game, which we were able to win. Q: Did you return to play in football games following the injury? What was it like making that decision? Did your role on the team/the fact that you were a Captain factor in that decision...if so, how much? A: The day after the game, I woke up to my knee extremely sore. I remember that I could barely walk on it. We got it checked out at the hospital, and the doctor was pretty confident from minor testing and looking at x-rays that it was nothing serious. Their confidence was good enough for me. As a captain and two way starter, I knew that the team was relying on me and I also knew that I wouldn’t be able to bear watching the season close from the sidelines. So I told myself that I would fight through the pain and play the last three games of the season to the best of my ability. I started every game after that and managed to finish the season with All-ISL recognition. It wasn’t until weeks after the season ended that the MRI revealed I had almost completely torn my PCL. Q: Generally walk us through some details about the recovery process. A: Although a knee injury seems pretty straight forward, it’s hard to put entirely into words the amount of time and effort I spent to speed up my recovery. When I learned that I tore my PCL, the doctor told me that my timeline would be about 6 months before I would be playing sports again. After surgery on December 9th, I was bedridden for two weeks. They put me in a full length locked out brace that stretched from ankle to hip that I had to wear 24/7 for the next 6 weeks. I wasn’t allowed to bend my leg at all until the 6 weeks were up. I hated the brace most of all. Eventually, I was allowed to start Physical Therapy in January. At Boston Sports Club in Waltham, they set me up with a rehab regiment that had me doing exercises twice a day every day on top of going to their PT place to see them twice a week. By actually doing the daily exercises every day, I really helped myself to get better. The doctor made it clear that doing the daily rehab exercises are essential for a speedy recovery because the muscles in the leg become atrophied after surgery. By developing strong leg muscles, less stress is put on the PCL ligament. It turns out, however, that most people don’t do the exercises because it requires time and effort. But for me, getting my leg healthy as soon as possible was the most appealing thing imaginable. I was determined to get my leg into shape no matter how much time I had to take out of my days, so I did these exercises religiously for months. Three months after surgery at a post-op checkup, my doctor took one look at my leg and noticing the muscles he said, “So you’ve been doing your homework.” This was the point in my recovery process when the doctor believed, because of my dedication towards rehab, that I had a chance to make a comeback this spring. Q: What were some of the hardest moments, anything you can recall? A: I remember once I was allowed to go back to school, I was faced with many difficulties especially getting up each morning. I vividly remember waking up at 5 am to my alarm buzzing, and reaching down along side my bed for my crutches. I would crutch in the dark over to the bathroom and somehow maneuver my leg and brace into a trash bag so that I could take a shower (couldn’t get the brace wet). It was hard for me to have to constantly be depending on people for help because I’m normally pretty independent. My mom had to help me get my socks and shoes on every day because I couldn’t reach my foot. Little things like that made me feel pretty helpless, like I would never get any better. And even though my typical school day was already abnormally long because I make the hour long commute everyday from Tyngsborough to Weston, my average day got much longer once I started going back to school on a regular basis. An average day would consist of me leaving for school at 6, finishing school around 3, going to an hour and a half of PT, followed by a lift at the gym so I could keep my body in shape. I wouldn’t get home until around 8 pm and then I would finish up any homework I had left before going to bed. Mentally, it was very tough for me to accept the fact that I’d be missing the entire lacrosse season, the thing I look forward to the most every year. Every week in the winter, I would listen as an outsider to my teammates talk about that week’s indoor game. It was so frustrating missing out on something that I’m so passionate about. I would tell myself that I would do whatever it takes to get back on the field. Q: Were there some specific points in the recovery process that gave you hope? These could things people said or did, milestones you hit, anything? A: One of the biggest challenges I faced was getting my range of motion back in my leg. For the longest time I couldn’t get my knee to bend past 90 degrees. I would work on it every day but with minimal results. But then after 6 weeks, I finally got out of the locked-out brace, and almost immediately my range of motion increased until it was back to normal. That was very uplifting. Not to mention the fact that after my brace was off, I could finally stop waddling everywhere. Q: What game did you return for your lacrosse season? Exactly how much time (months & weeks) had passed since the surgery? What was the time frame given on an expected return from that injury? A: I was cleared to play on April 9, exactly four months after surgery. The doctor’s original timeline for me was 6 months after surgery. I ended up dressing for the next game (Thayer 4/11) and then played my first reps which amounted to about half the game against Brooks on the following Wednesday. From there I’ve never looked back, gradually increasing my practice and playing time each day. I resumed my starting position against Governors (4/22) and stayed in for the entire game. Q: How do you feel now? Can you describe how it feels to get back in the mix? A: My leg is still stiff and gets sore quite often after I really work it. To counter this I take the extra time before every practice to roll out, bike, and stretch and also I make sure I ice it multiple times a day. But it definitely is getting better each and every day. It’s slower than it used to be and getting it back into shape is my main focus for the summer, but I’m pretty confident on it right now as it is. When I’m playing I don’t really think about it, I just try to focus on playing my game. On the other hand, it’s kind of overwhelming sometimes to step on the field and look at how far I’ve come over the past few months. To think that I shouldn’t be playing right now makes me enjoy every moment I have on the field with my teammates. Q: Do you feel any closure at this point, or do you feel you still have more work to do? A: I know that I’ve come a long way since my surgery, but I also recognize that I’m nowhere near where I have to be. In a little over a year I’m going to be walking onto the campus of Georgetown University, and if I want to step on the field I know that I have to be bigger, stronger, and faster. That’s why I’ve already signed up for a 4-day workout program every week at Top Fitness in Nashua for the entirety of the summer. I’ve been going there ever since I was in the 7th grade, and Scott Prunier (my trainer) does a great job improving my performance. On top of this, I have a loaded summer lacrosse circuit with my club team to get me back into a groove on the lacrosse field. Q: 10. Anything else we should know (I'm sure I'm missing something)? A: I committed to play Division 1 lacrosse at Georgetown University my freshman year at Rivers. When I hurt my leg I feel like a lot people had counted my out. They probably think that this injury was one of the worst things that could happen to me, that I’m never going to be able to play at a high level again. Some people assumed my scholarship would be pulled. All of these voices, help motivate me. They helped me get through the rehab process in 4 months when that didn’t seem like a possibility. Now on the field, I play with a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I know that I have something to prove. On and off the field I will work harder than I ever have to show my peers that this injury will not limit me. If anything, this injury will have a positive effect on my life. Learning to cope with such a large amount of adversity will prepare me for whatever obstacles life throws at me. |
