Matthew Howe

Matthew Howe’s story, in their own words

It was a big soccer game during Thanksgiving 2014 weekend against a team we did not want to lose to. Five minutes into the game, my first attack on goal, I jumped up for a header against the keeper and came down hard and heard a "POP" and down I went. Already having been diagnosed with Level 1 Osteochondritis Dissecans, I knew that I just had moved categories to the most severe with the bone fragment dislodging from the bone and floating in the tissue. The pain was intense but my only worry was being able to get back on that soccer field as soon as possible.

After seeing our local orthopedic and hearing the prognosis and details of the surgery we headed to Hospital for Special Surgery to see the best in the field for pediatric orthopedics. Dr. Daniel Green explained the surgery details, the recovery process and the goal of September 2015 for me to be back in the game. His confidence and knowledge and countless numbers of success stories made me and my family comfortable to proceed with a intense surgery that would require many months of recovery. Dr. Green and HSS had the same goal in mind as us ...

.to get me back on the soccer field playing competitive by next season. Fast forward to now and I am 100% and running at full steam. As my coaches and teammates said, you would never know I had knee surgery with over 10 pins put into my femur!

I was back to normal and back in the game!

Published by the Hospital for Special Surgery in its Back in the Game archive in September 2016, and reproduced here in full. Read it on hss.edu →

Sport or activity

Soccer, Running

Treating surgeon

Dr. Daniel W. Green