Madison Wisted, 16, of Wheaton, IL, is a student-athlete at St. Francis High School. A total sports nut, she grew up playing any game she could. In middle school, she competed on the volleyball and softball teams, but her real love was basketball.
She became so good that as a freshman, she made the women’s varsity basketball team and played point guard. She triumphed in eight games before the unthinkable happened. The day after Christmas, while playing in a tournament game, her knee simply “gave out.”
She immediately went for an MRI which determined that she had sprained her medial collateral ligament (MCL) and torn her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). While learning how to walk with crutches, she and her family began investigating the best treatment options to repair her knee.
“We did our research carefully,” Madison explains. “We heard scary stories from other people, like surgery not going well with other doctors. So we wanted to make sure we got the best one.”
One name kept popping up: Dr. Brian Cole of Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush (MOR), named one of Chicago’s top doctors for the shoulder and knee by Orthopedics This Week. Right away, Madison made an appointment with Dr. Cole, who could already see the loss of muscle in her leg. He recommended and performed surgery to repair her ACL and also gave her a leg brace with a built-in electric muscle stimulation device to both protect her knee and begin early rehabilitation to regain her muscle strength.
“Dr. Cole was very personable. We had a lot of questions coming in and he took his time with us. It made the whole process a lot easier.”
Post-surgery, Madison used the leg brace and crutches for a couple of weeks, then underwent physical therapy for about six months. In order to return to basketball with full confidence, she participated in MOR’s Functional Sports Assessment to identify potential weaknesses and risk of further injury. “It was honestly one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen,” she says of the program. “Dr. Cole was great about checking in on me and answering my questions right away. The communication was amazing.”
Despite her injury and time off the court, Madison was her team’s biggest cheerleader. “Right around the time of my injury, our team was in regionals for basketball. I was sitting on a bench with ice packs and still got to see our big win.” And, just 10 days after surgery, she went to a school dance. “Nothing was really stopping me. It was a lot of fun!”
Today, Madison is back to practicing and playing with the varsity basketball team in some capacity every day. She has even taken up golf and loves both sports.
With a positive attitude and endless kudos to Dr. Cole, Madison remains hopeful that her athletic ability will continue to improve. “Basketball has always been in my life,” she says. “And, even though it’s newer, I know I’ll be doing golf for the rest of my life too.”
If you are interested in discussing your knee, shoulder, or elbow condition with Dr. Brian Cole, call 877-MD-BONES to schedule an appointment. To learn more about Dr. Cole and his practice, visit www.BrianColeMD.com.
