rEdEFInIng - Stanford Hospital & Clinics

SPoRTS mEdICINE
Basketball player Melanie Murphy came blazing out of
Brooklyn as a point guard with the kinds of steals, assists,
blocks and grade-point average that made her a natural for
the Stanford university women’s team. In her freshman year,
Melanie played in 31 games as the Cardinal took on its
tough Pac-10 Conference competitors. The next year was
not so good.
During her second season, Melanie tore her left knee’s
anterior cruciate ligament (ACl), a common injury for athletes
of her caliber. The season-ending injury sent her to see
Dr. Marc Safran, a physician for many collegiate teams and
the Associate Chief of Sports Medicine at Stanford Hospital &
Clinics. Repairing Melanie’s left ACl was a straightforward
surgery, and after several months of rehab she was playing
again. But just as her athletic life was getting back on track,
a new injury threatened her right knee the very next year.
Coincidentally, Dr. Safran was studying articular cartilage
damage in basketball players at that time, using an MRI with
a special cartilage sequencing image function to examine for
both structural damage and more subtle cartilage changes
that could cause problems later. Based on a scan of her new
injury, Dr. Safran recommended a second surgery.
While some players might have abandoned their sports
dreams in the face of yet another surgery, Melanie was
confident that Dr. Safran and his team would provide excellent
care. “They are very in tune with what athletes need. They
have a lot of experience,” she says. Melanie had the second
surgery and returned to play, helping bring the Cardinal
one more Pac-10 championship. Her care gave her not only
another season, but the chance for a life without knee
restrictions or pain.
“They are very in tune with what
athletes need. They have a lot
of experience.”
Melanie Murphy
Orthopaedic Surgery Patient
THE ACl IS ONE OF THE MOST COMMON
lIgAMENTS TO BE INJuRED. IT CAN BE
STRETCHED AND/OR TORN DuRINg A
SuDDEN TWISTINg MOTION WHEN THE
FEET STAY PlANTED ONE WAY, BuT THE
kNEES TuRN THE OTHER WAY.
renewed
CONFIDENCE
THAT gIvEs ATHLETEs
experience
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