The country’s first athletes to be operated on in-country have completed a major step in their rehabilitation program.
Late last year, seven PNG elite athletes successfully underwent Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery by a visiting team of specialists from Singapore at the Port Moresby General hospital.
After 24 weeks of a challenging recovery journey, the athletes are free from their crutches and embracing life after surgery.
The sports medicine clinic staff from High Performance Sport PNG guided by team leader Michelle Fae welcomed a new era for the athletes as they step into the second phase of their recovery, the pre- rehabilitation phase which will focus preventing recurring injuries and sports specific training, the final phase before entering active sport.
“The main thing that I see that helped them throughout this process was educating the athletes themselves on the process of it (rehabilitation).
“Through educating the athletes about what was going with their legs and what their expectations were, they were able to commit themselves and dedicate themselves and they were able to come through this 24 weeks of rehabs,” Fae said.
Fae said the challenge now was for the athletes to maintain what they learnt during their recovery process when they go back to their clubs for their sports specific training for the next six months.
Personal Development Coordinator Richard Ora also encouraged the athletes to have a dual career or other interests through their sport career.
This is important to help the athletes through lengthy time periods away from their normal training programs to traveling with teams.
He gave examples of former All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw who apart from leading the greatest rugby team of all time is also a commercial airline pilot making the transition easy for him to earn a living after retiring from sport.