be about Self-Discovery Building a Healthy Life

By C ori U rban

Special To The Republican

Kasey Ann Earle, of Hadley, experienced her first anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus tear in the right knee when she was 16; her second ACL tear — in her left knee — was at age 18.

The first injury happened when she was at an AAU basketball tournament in Philadelphia. “During my first tournament game I was going up for a layup in the first half and I was fouled. I landed wrong and tore my ACL in the right knee. I decided to go back into the game at half time and I tore my meniscus in the right knee playing defense,” she recalled. Her second ACL tear, in her left knee, was a soccer injury. “I was playing in a summer soccer game on the turf field at South Hadley High School. I planted my left foot and turned to the right to change direction and I was bodied from behind,” she said.

After both injuries, she was treated by Dr. Jonathan M. Fallon of the Cooley Dickinson Medical Group; he specializes in orthopedic surgery, sports medicine and shoulder surgery.

Cooley Dickinson Medical Group Orthopedics and Sports Medicine has highly trained professionals advancing the health of patients through specialized, expert treatment and prevention of musculoskeletal (bones, ligaments, muscles, tendons) problems. The practice’s holistic approach to orthopedics involves coordination of personalized services within the practice and with other providers to ensure a comprehensive range of care to people of all ages. Within three weeks of her first injury, Fallon reconstructed Earle’s ACL and repaired her meniscus in surgery. He continued to follow up with Earle for nine months, checking on her recovery. “He put me into an ACL return-to-sports program that he developed to help athletes like myself get stronger in order to play again,” she said. “The second time around, the moment he read the