This real patient was compensated for the time they took to share their personal experience with the InternalBrace procedure.
For Estee H, being physically active in the great outdoors is all about mental health—a way to release stress and spend quality time with her husband and three boys. Whether it’s hiking, mountain biking, skiing, swimming, or running, she says that in any weather, she will find something to do outside.
An avid runner, Estee wanted to celebrate her 40th birthday with a 40-mile run through the mountains. Unfortunately, the run didn’t go so well. “About halfway through, I ran down a segment into one of the canyons and my ankle just twisted, and it hurt.” She added, “Despite the immense pain, all I could think about was finishing the run.” So, she pushed through the last 20 miles.
Two weeks later, only 10 miles into a 35-mile run, Estee totally blew out her ankle while rounding a corner. Unsure what to do, she walked it out for a few miles then finished the run. After an x-ray showed it wasn’t broken, she continued running throughout the summer. No stranger to ankle instability and rolling her ankle, she kept thinking it would get better. That never happened.
It took hitting rock bottom before Estee knew it was time to visit the orthopedic surgeon she had seen before for a broken ankle on her other leg. “My ankle was swollen, walking was so hard, and I was still trying to run on it. I don’t know what I was thinking,” she said.
Her doctor told her that, for a first-time sprain, it’s not unlikely for the ankle to heal on its own, but that a subset of patients—about 1 out of 5—goes on to experience recurrent ankle sprains and instability.2 His solution for Estee’s chronic ankle instability was the InternalBrace ligament augmentation procedure, a supplement to an existing ankle repair procedure, that provides additional soft tissue-to-bone fixation that supports the primary repair during the healing phase, which may help speed up the recovery process.
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Estee said she didn’t love the thought of having surgery, “but my ankle hurt so bad, I was ready to do anything. If I want to spend time doing what our family loves to do and being with my kids, I’ve got to make sure I can do this [be active] for the rest of my life.” Estee said that the biggest factor in deciding to move forward with surgery was hearing how other people—specifically, professional athletes—have had the InternalBrace procedure and are still able to compete professionally. She noted, “If they’re doing it and having that much success, why wouldn’t it work for me?”
Estee described her postoperative rehabilitation, “I was in a boot for a little bit, but then I started physical therapy and realized I had a level of stability I’d never had before.” Estee had always been under the impression that activity level plummets and life is over once you have ankle surgery. It is safe to say her perspective has changed. “Overall, this has been a pretty great experience from the beginning to the end,” she said. “I remember putting my shoes on for the first time without the ankle brace. The freedom of suddenly being able to walk without pain was amazing!”
Today, Estee is still active and enjoying her favorite activities with her family, joking that if she can occasionally outrun her 14-year-old son, she is doing okay. “Honestly, if I didn’t have the option to have the InternalBrace procedure and it be so successful, my quality of life would be rough. I’d be pretty bummed.”
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