After a severe injury to the ankle during a game, the young Andrej Sinadinovski chose Acibadem Sistina Hospital as his first choice for treatment. He explained that the overall professional approach and treatment of Dr. Neda Trajkovska, who is a Traumatologist and Dr. Anica Hadzi Petrusheva Jankievik from the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation motivated him to get back on his feet. After the surgery and rehabilitation, Andrej started to return to normal.

“After the injury, while I was still in shock, I knew that the first place to turn to is Acibadem Sistina. As an athlete, I was familiar with the services and opportunities offered at Acibadem Sistina at the Department of Trauma and at the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. I felt safe from the first moment I was taken to the Emergency Center. After my ankle surgery, during each passing day of rehabilitation my confidence was growing stronger. I was in a lot of pain, my leg was swollen and I was completely motionless. However, things were improving day by day. Now I am here, standing on my feet, I can move and function normally without restrictions. I am grateful to the entire team that took care of me,” explained Andrej.

Surgery was the first step to success

“In addition to the trimalleolar fracture with ankle luxation, the CT finding showed that the patient had a bone and cartilage lesion of the talus, which additionally complicates the injury and worsens the prognosis. After the surgical treatment of the malleolar fractures, the biggest problem was the talus injury. We obtained encouraging results with the recently-made MRI, after which another operation followed for a direct insight into the cartilage’s damage extent and its treatment,” said Dr. Neda Trajkovska.

Four weeks after the surgery of the ankle, Andrej started doing exercises at the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. Due to the laboured load, pain, swelling and maximally limited movement, the physical therapy lasted for 2 months. Although relatively common, in addition to knee injuries, this is one of the most severe injuries in football players.

“Andrew injured his ankle, where the load is the greatest. The stability and mobility of the ankle have a very important role in running fast, kicking fast and in the realization of all fast sports movements. After such injury, the career in sports is under a big question mark.

Despite the classic procedures that have an analgesic action and action to encourage the bone’s ossification, we applied exercises that were initially more facilitating, as well as exercises on a soft surface – trampoline and isokinetic machine, to establish a normal movement and balance and proceed with hydrotherapy, i.e. hydro-tape exercises.

Hydrotherapy allows 100% return of the injured segment’s functionality

During the rehabilitation of such sports injuries the best combination is exercises and hydrotherapy.

“The combination of exercises and hydrotherapy is the most thorough rehabilitation process. Hydrotherapy is of great importance if we strive for 100% return to the original condition, as well as smooth functioning of the injured area in the future. The initial exercise is unloading, i.e. the water pressure doesn’t allow us to have a complete load, the patient doesn’t feel pain when treading and the movements are facilitated. We proceeded with exercises in the water which more intensive and require additional resistance in the water. After the injury, the therapy was performed in warm water from 30 to 32 degrees. Warm water facilitates the soft tissues’ elasticity as well as the overall movement, and since the whole leg is activated, it strengthens the entire surrounding muscle,” said Dr. Hadji Petrusheva.