My recovery journey after a serious knee injury.

From Holly Deering, Manchester United Women's U21

"Don’t let it be my ACL."

I’ve been playing football for almost as long as I can remember. First, with my two older brothers, then later for my local boys’ team, Cheadle and Gatley. I’ve been a part of the Manchester United Academy since I was eight years old, when they saw me at a school tournament. And I’d never had a serious injury before. And as soon as it happened, I knew it was serious.

I was on loan at Liverpool Feds and we were away at Wolves. I play centre midfield and it had been a physical game – I had been getting fouled a lot. Then, with five minutes left, one of their players came through the inside of my knee, out of control. And I knew right away something was wrong.

Next thing I know, there’s a crowd of people around me and the physio is calling for a stretcher. But my dad’s in the crowd, like usual, and I don’t want him to think I’m seriously injured. So I get up and I’m helped off the pitch. Because I know what he’s thinking: Don’t let it be her ACL.

The physio at Liverpool Feds taped up my knee to support it and gave me some ice. We were given crutches at the stadium, I got to the car and my dad took me home. On the way I texted our physio about what had happened, and he told me to come in the next day. So we went in to Carrington, United’s training ground, to get checked out. I had a scan. Then back home to wait for the news.

Please don’t let it be my ACL.

That fear lasted for the next day, until my diagnosis. My dream is to get to the WSL, but really, I just want to play as much football as possible, and to always enjoy my football. The thought of nine months, maybe even a year with no football was scary.

After I got scanned, the physio called me to tell me what they’d found. The good news? It wasn’t my ACL. I had a LCL injury – that’s the lateral collateral ligament in the knee. Don’t worry, I hadn’t heard of it either. I didn’t know what the injury was, or what the recovery would be like. And that was pretty scary at first.

The physio described that part of my knee. What the ligament should look like, and what had happened to mine. And he gave me a plan of what we were going to do, going forward. Like any footballer in that situation, I only had one question.

How long?

I was going to be out for three months, but that would run right up until the end of the season, so my rehab would run into pre-season. 
The next week was the hardest part. I was on crutches and I had to stay home. No physical activity at all. That’s not me.

I was just on my sofa, watching telly. Meanwhile, my team were doing team bonding. No NERF for me. I was so bored I told my mum I wanted to go into college – and she wouldn’t let me.

But I was lucky in other ways. I had my mum and dad supporting me, and my brothers – one of my brothers is a boxer now, and he had just gone through knee surgery himself. And the coaching staff at United stayed in touch from the start, checking in on me, asking how I was doing, even though they knew it would be a while before I was going to play again.

I had to wear a brace for the next six weeks, but I was able to move more, limited movement – the same exercises every day. It was a bit boring.

“The most important piece of advice to anyone in my position is this: stay involved with your team. Talk to your teammates and your coaches. As soon as I could, I started going to the games – every game – and I know my recovery would have been much more difficult if I didn’t feel like I was still part of the team.”

Once my brace came off, there was another six weeks of recovery. But by now I was getting back in the gym, and there were a few other girls in rehab. After each of my sessions, I’d go out on to the pitch and see all of my teammates. I was slowly getting stronger, and now I have that connection back with the team. I’m a long way from the sofa, but I know I’ve still got a lot of work before I get back on the pitch.

Just as their season was finishing, I was starting to get back onto the pitch. I wasn’t ready to participate in full training yet, no contact – just a lot of running! But it felt like progress to be back out there.

Then, when the season ended, I was on my own for the summer. I was given a programme to follow to build my fitness up, and then a gym programme to get as strong as I could. The aim was for me to be as far along on my journey as possible by the time pre-season came around.

For the first three weeks of pre-season, I was still out there doing my own thing, alongside the main group. Working hard, getting stronger.

I remember the first session back with the group – I was buzzing! And straight away it was full training, contact, everything. For the first couple of sessions, I think the injury was still at the back of my mind; I was a little cautious when I was going into tackles. But that didn’t last long – and now I feel exactly the same as I did before.

Right now, I’m building up my minutes. I played 45 in my last game, I’ll play 60 next time. And by the time you read this, I should be playing 90 minutes again.