Orthoula Papadakos is 36 years old and was
born in Toronto Canada; from a young age she was involved in
competitive sports, and wanted to become a professional
athlete in basketball. She played for the Canadian National
Team in both soccer and basketball, was offered scholarships
for both sports in the U.S.A. She decided to become a
professional athlete instead, signing at the age of 17 with
Panathinaikos, a professional basket ball team in Greece.
Her first injury occurred at the age
of 18, in 1988, tearing her ACL, during a match, she was
operated on immediately by Dr. Argiri Mitsou, she returned
after one year, playing again at the same level.
In 2002, she again tore her ACL in a basket ball match and
was operated on by Dr. Papagianopoulos from Greece. He
reinforced her torn ACL with an artificial ligament
( LARS) due to the fact the it was the
second time she had torn her ACL. This method gave her the
confidence that her knee would be stronger than before, and
allow her to compete again a lot sooner, when compared to
conventional surgery.
Orthoula compared both methods used on her ACL and describes
the conventional method as being very painful, needing
months of rehabilitation, and keeping her out of athletic
competition for 10 months. The artificial Lars ligament used
in her second operation allowed her to walk the same day,
drive within the week and started rehabilitation (pool and
gym) within 10 days. Devoting all her time and effort
towards her rehabilitation, she started playing basket ball
professionally again after 10 weeks, (75 days) leaving all
doctors and therapists surprised.
Orthoula feels that because the operation
was successful she was able to continue her professional
career without the loss of any strength and speed, she can
participate in any sport she chooses without any pain, and
the only thing to remind her of the operation is the scar on
her knee.
Orthoula is now a TV host for Fort
Boyard and a well respected celebrity in Greece after her
participation in a TV reality game Survivor in 2002-2003.
