Brody Jakubowski is just over a month post-surgery on his knee. He tore his meniscus during a wrestling practice.
“We were preparing for a national tournament in Fargo, a huge, national tournament, and it was the day before we left I was training, we were warming up and I just landed on it funny during warmups and I felt a twist and grind and something didn’t feel right, but finished out the practice. The next day I was walking around and something just wasn’t right,” said Jakubowski.
He’s been wrestling since he was 4 years old and was ready to compete at the college level at Northern State University, so getting back on the mat as soon as possible was a priority.
That’s when the orthopedic team at Avera St. Anthony’s in O’Neill got to work.
“We did an X-ray initially which was negative and then we pursued and got the MRI, we were able to get it right away the next day. Luckily here we have MRI readily available, so saw him Monday and had the MRI Tuesday morning,” said certified physician’s assistant with Avera Orthopedics in O’Neill, Dean Benson.
Dr. Ben Lancaster is an orthopedic surgeon who does outreach in O’Neill and was able to meet with Brody after his MRI.
Repairing a Torn Meniscus
“Looking at his MRI he had a symptomatic meniscus tear, he was having mechanical symptoms and sensation that his knee is catching and giving out,” said orthopedic surgeon with Yankton Medical Clinic, an Avera partner, Ben Lancaster, MD. “We did discuss doing a repair versus doing a partial meniscectomy, the benefit of doing a partial meniscectomy is there’s no weight bearing restrictions post-surgery and we can speed up his recovery and have him back to his sport at about six weeks, compared to a meniscus repair which the rehab is a little bit longer and you’re not back to your sport until about six months.”
A week later, Brody was scheduled for surgery to have a partial meniscectomy.
“We remove the torn portion of the meniscus so that it doesn't block the joint anymore or give him any symptomatic mechanical symptoms,” said Lancaster.
“After surgery I walked out of the hospital without crutches, got into the car, I live 10 minutes from here, it was just super convenient to have everything here. Having it right here in O’Neill was super nice and convenient,” said Jakubowski.
Returning to Sport After Surgery
This regional approach to care combined with collaboration between providers means this athlete will return to competition in time for the start of the season.
“It was great to have the surgery done right away so he could have that extra time to recover and get his strength back through physical therapy. Four to six weeks is a pretty good timeframe to get back to activities, but he has progressed well with physical therapy and should be ready to go,” said Benson.
“I’ll get rolling into practice after the first week or so up there but I’m excited. Northern has always been my dream school and they offered me to wrestle up there and I was ecstatic when they offered to me, so yeah I’m super excited for that,” said Jakubowski.
Learn more about orthopedic care at Avera.
