Danny Souza

I have been a competitive athlete my entire life, playing football, basketball and baseball in high school and then continuing baseball in college for 4 years. I was also a competitive alpine ski racer growing up. Along with that, I also love to water-ski and golf.

After graduating college and moving to New York from California for work, I tore my ACL/MCL/Meniscus playing pickup basketball. I was terrified and didn't know how this would affect my life as an athlete. Luckily, a friend of mine recommended HSS - specifically Dr. Allen. After one visit to his office, I knew this was the doctor and staff that I wanted to perform my surgery. Dr. Allen reassured me that if I trusted the process and remained patient, things were going to be just fine. Dr. Allen worked his magic and completed the surgery smoothly and quickly!

After surgery, Dr. Allen sent me to Patrick Vignona for physical therapy. I told Patrick I wanted him to treat me like one of his high-level athletes, and sure enough that is exactly what he did. He pushed me to try things that I didn't think were possible at the time, but he also made sure that I was careful and didn't try to move too fast. Every time I had a question or got nervous about a "weird" feeling, Patrick took the time to make sure I had every answer and felt good about my progress. Most importantly, he constantly reminded me that my knee was looking stronger and stronger each time I showed up - the mental game is half the battle and Patrick kept my spirits up, which in turn helped me regain trust in my knee.

After months of hard work at physical therapy with Patrick, I am now back in the gym doing sprints/squatting/etc. I'm back on the golf course and on the basketball court, I've been water-skiing and snow skiing, and so much more. I wouldn't be where I am now without Dr. Allen's amazing work on my knee or Patrick's incredible guidance through physical therapy. I can't thank them enough for their help to get me back to 100%. I would recommend both of them to anyone and everyone. I don't know if there is a better combination to get you back in the game than these two, and they have definitely made a big impact on my life.