Cale Petermann

I have always been involved in competitive sports but none more competitive than Rugby. I began playing right out of High School and quickly grew to learn the sport and love every aspect of it. Growing up playing on a D1 Mens team has taught me more about the sport than I thought I could ever learn. During my junior year in college, while starting in the Centers on the Mens Team, I felt a pop in my right knee after a hard plant and immediately hit the ground in pain. My fears came to light upon hearing the diagnosis of a torn ACL. I surely thought that my playing days had come to an end just as I was hitting a stride in my playing career.

I met with Dr. DiFelice and immediately felt a connection as he was a former Rugby player himself and looks after multiple teams in the NYC area. He took a great deal of time to walk me through the ACL reconstruction procedure and what was to be expected about the recovery time. The day of the surgery my nerves were running at an all-time high, but I was reassured by the staff in the abilities that Dr. DiFelice had. Upon coming to in the recovery room, I was met by my parents and an elated surgeon who had some great news for me. He informed me that he was able to reattach my ACL to the bony wall where it had torn off from! He performed an ACL Repair, thus saving my native ACL, instead of the more involved ACL Reconstruction, or replacement of the native ACL, that I was scheduled for. When he noticed the way the ACL was torn during the surgery, he went out and talked to my parents to explain the repair procedure and got their permission to proceed with the new plan. Turns out he invented this new procedure that is much less invasive, and works well with very specific types of tears like mine. Lucky for me!

My overall recovery time was cut in half compared to what was first described to me by Dr. DiFelice. 4-5 weeks post-op I was back to running on a treadmill and within 2 months I had full range of motion and had regained all the strength that I had lost in my leg. The best part to the procedure was the fact that I was able to return to competitive rugby only 4 months after the surgery had taken place! My knee felt better than ever. The following year, I was even fortunate enough travel to Hong Kong and play in the world largest Rugby 10’s tournament. At one point, almost 2 years post-op I took a particularly hard hit and felt immediate pain in that knee. I thought the worst, assuming that I had retorn the ligament. However, when I went to see Dr. DiFelice he assured me that I had sprained my MCL and that my ACL repair had held! The MCL healed on it's own and I am back to playing. I continue to make strides in my rugby career and I do not see any point in the near future where I am going to slow down and I owe that all to Dr. DiFelice.