STAYING ON TRACK
It was the end of the cross-country running season. Corrine Malcolm was in her senior year at Hayward High School and training for sectionals.
Everything was going great, except for a persistent swelling and stiffness in her right knee.
Corrine made it through the sectional and state cross-country running meets just fine. But when dry-land training for the cross-country ski team started, the swelling and stiffness in her knee was so bad it made it impossible to train as aggressively as she needed to.
That’s when she saw Dr. Douglas Hoffman, orthopaedics/sports medicine outreach physician at Duluth Clinic-Hayward. Dr. Hoffman ordered X-rays and a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of Corrine’s knee.
A tear was found in her meniscus and Corrine was told it could be fixed or trimmed depending on what was found during surgery. She was also told that surgery and rehabilitation could make it impossible for her to have a cross-country ski season her senior year.
“I was devastated,” Corrine said. “I wanted to make the cross-country ski team at Montana State University in Bozeman. To do that, I had to have a good season my senior year.”
Dr. Hoffman referred Corrine to orthopaedic trauma surgeon Dr. Jefferson Davis at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth. It was decided that Corrine would have minimally invasive surgery on her knee over Thanksgiving break.
Corrine’s case was difficult. Part of her meniscus was peeled off. Instead of repairing the tear by suturing it together, Dr. Davis had to trim the meniscus to remove the damage and then repair the tear.
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| Corrine Malcolm of Hayward, Wisc., was able to compete in both the state high school cross-country running and skiing meets thanks to minimally invasive knee surgery. |
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After surgery, Corrine started rehabilitation back at Duluth Clinic-Hayward. Through it all, she relied on the coordinated world-class care from a special connection between the Orthopaedic program at SMDC’s Duluth campus, and the rehabilitation team at Duluth Clinic - Hayward, including Certified Athletic Trainer Laura Fafara, who works with athletes at Hayward High School.
“Everyone worked together to make my surgery and rehabilitation successful,” Corrine said. “They were so supportive and took the stress out of the whole recovery process.”
Although Corrine had to start the ski season late, she was able to achieve all of the challenging goals she set for herself before surgery. She qualified for the Midwest Junior Olympic Team and competed with them in Alaska, earning All-American honors. She went on to win both of her individual races at the Wisconsin state cross-country ski meet and earned the overall women’s high school title.
And Corrine made the cross-country ski team at Montana State University in Bozeman, where she is studying exercise science and physiology.
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