On November 12, 2023, Cass Siemonsma tore her ACL right and meniscus in her first basketball game of the season with the University of Sioux Falls Cougars. Surgery followed in December and thus began her rehabilitation journey to once again take the court with her teammates.
“I'd say I'm looking forward to it, just knowing I'm getting stronger, getting better. Looking to improve and hopefully be on the court soon!” said Siemonsma.
That was Cass back in May of 2023, five months into the physical therapy process.
"Every person that walks in already learned something new and I think by learning more about them as a person you can motivate them better,” said Anthony Husher, DPT a Physical Therapist with Avera Sports.
“He's really good, he's really helpful with everything. I have a lot of questions, so he assures me I'm on the right track and very helpful,” said Siemonsma.
“There's so much communication involved in that team approach that I really enjoy because you're constantly communicating back and forth with patient, parents, coach, athletic trainer and physician, trying to get them on the same page and understand why we're doing this,” said Husher.
The roadmap to recovery involves a lot of long-term planning so Cass and her team know where she’s at, and understand how they can work cohesively to get her back to where she was. For Husher, it’s his goal to get Cass, and all the athletes he works with, to a place where they are a little bit better than they were. At an appointment in October, Cass gave an update on her progress.
“It's definitely been a lot a lot of hard work but it's definitely worth it. I was in the brace for six weeks I believe and so putting weight on it and getting used to walking again was hard but that was probably the first big milestone,” said Siemonsma.
Exercise, rest and repeat. Week after week. There’s a reason that rehab is called a journey. For Cass, it was filled with ups and downs.
“A lot of people don't know really what all goes into it, but I kind of had a couple setbacks. My quad wasn't firing up at first, so I had to really work on that, really work on the strength. We're still working on it to this day actually. Just knowing that I've got a good team behind me helps,” said Siemonsma.
Setbacks are common with ligament recovery as it's such a long process. That’s a reason why Husher makes sure his patients also control the mindset along with their bodies.
“Take it day by day, week by week. Understand that the feelings that you're having right now aren't going to be indicative of your success later on. It's such a long road, as long as you can control the things that you can control. Again, being disciplined with the exercises, having the right attitude, finding ways to still be involved with your team or your job as best you can. Sometimes it's just showing them, hey, you can do this. And instilling that confidence in them, where maybe they didn't have it coming into that appointment,” said Husher.
“Anthony and Avera have really prepared me to not worry about my knee. And I think they've really prepared me well,” said Siemonsma.
A redshirt freshman and injured sophomore, this junior has been off the court too long.
“So it's been about two years (since I’ve played). First game, so I don't know, just getting out the first game jitters, getting out everything,” said Siemonsma.
On November 13, Cass completed the journey and retook the court.
