ACL rehab stories - Vikki Falconer

By John Harrington

In the third of a series of interviews with top level Gaelic games players across the four codes who have sustained ACL ruptures, Waterford camogie star, Vikki Falconer, spoke to GAA.ie about her own rehab journey to help promote the GAA Medical, Scientific and Welfare Committee’s ongoing research into the injury.

GAA, LGFA, and Camogie players and administrators are being asked to assist this research by completing a short survey.

The Player Survey can be completed HERE.

The Administrator Survey can be completed HERE.

Go HERE for more information on the MSW's research in to ACL injuries in Gaelic games.

GAA.ie: Vikki, can you tell us the circumstances of how you tore your ACL?

Vikki Falconer: It was our All-Ireland Final in 2023, I think I was on the pitch for maybe a minute. It is all a bit of a blur but I remember one of the Cork players was coming through with the ball and my marker went to run to her to get the ball. I was a small bit behind her, so I thought it was going to be a hand pass or I'd just hold her up or whatever but the ball was actually hit into the corner of us, so it was kind of like a real sharp, unanticipated turn. When I went to turn there was a pop and a sudden pain and I just fell to the ground.

The pain didn't last too long, which is very weird, but I knew myself there was something bad after happening. I knew it wasn't a muscle or anything and I kind of just lay there really because there was a fear of kind of moving my legs. I kind of knew straight away what it was because at that time there was loads of cruciates happening so it's always in your head. I knew it was my knee becuase there was a really big pop. It kind of felt like it popped out and then back in again and there was that shooting pain. So it was a very short-lived time on the field for the All-Ireland Final.

GAA.ie: What thoughts were going through your head when you went off the pitch? You must have been gutted to suffer a serious injury so early in an All-Ireland Final?

VF: 100 per cent. I remember just lying there, I was nearly afraid to move. I could hear the crowd going and I knew obviously as I was corner-back we'd be quite close to the goal, so I was waiting for a cheer thinking, if she scores a goal now after a minute because I've gone down....you have that worry in your head and you're thinking is it that bad, should I just get up?

I remember just lying there thinking, "you have to be joking!" It's the All-Ireland Final and I'm lying here in Croke Park and you train your whole life for these moments and I'm just gone essentially. It was really hard to take. It was a tough one.

GAA.ie: All the more because you have been hurling for Waterford for many years and this was your first All-Ireland Senior Final and what was meant to be the high point of your career yet?

VF: 100 per cent. I suppose I'm one of the eldest on the team, at the time I was 29, so you're always kind of wondering when is it your time to leave it. As you say, it was our first Senior Final and you know how hard they are to get to and they don't come around often. Essentially you're training your whole life for these moments, and then to be gone after a minute, it was really hard.

I think it's probably something I haven't really processed properly, and it's probably something I won't think about for another few years because I'm trying to put it to the back of my head. But, yeah, it is hard to take.

GAA.ie: What happened when you went off the pitch? Did you watch the rest of the game from the bench?

VF: They took me to the physio room, my team doctor came down and just had a little look. The pain was gone and they did have me on strong medication, so it really was all a blur. It obviously wasn't a good day for us anyway that day. Before I knew it I was up on the subs bench because you're trying to watch the match, but there are just so many things going through your head, so, yeah, it was a strange experience afterwards.

GAA.ie: It must have been tough seeing the woman you were marking, Amy O'Connor, go on to score 3-2 from play. Were you thinking maybe you could have made a difference had you stayed on the pitch?

VF: I feel like it was such a big day for us as a team that had never gotten there before and there were lots of nerves. When you have a plan in place, and then something like that happens, you do always think like, what if, and do you blame yourself a small bit as well? I don't know, as I said, it's hard to take. Look, it was a hard day for all of us that day. Things didn't really go to plan.

GAA.ie: Talk me through the following few days.

VF: Our team doctor and physio were doing all the tests and they kind of prepared me for the worst, which I was happy about. I didn't want to be told you'll be fine, it's nothing too major, and then get a shock a few days later. So I had it in my head it was going to be the knee anyway.

After the All-Ireland Final we had stuff planned for the two or three days afterwards, so it was really busy. We were all together, which was nice, it wasn't the case you were home on your own. I was lucky enough, I got in really quickly to get the scan. The match was a Sunday and I was in on the Wednesday to get the scan, and I kind of knew within the day or two. We were lucky in the set-up that we were in that I had everything I needed in terms of the people there to support me and the people there to be able to read scans quickly.

So, within a week I knew it was the ACL. My partner and I were meant to go to Switzerland the following week for a big hiking holiday so we had to cancel that. We ended up changing things around and I actually went away for a few days, I was able to hobble around on crutches. When I came back I met the consultants and we talked through what kind of surgery I was going to get, and we decided to take it (the graft) from the quad.

I knew straight away what physio I wanted to work with. We had Michael O'Sullivan in with us the previous year and he's from the same place as me as well so I knew straight away I kind of wanted to work with him. He's one of the best around and I trusted him, so I went into him straight away and just talked him through what I wanted to do and what my goals were.

He put me on an extensive prehab. He knew I was getting it from the quad, so it was a lot of quad work. It was kind of funny, I was in the gym probably seven days a week working on the quad to know I was going to have to do the exact same thing again a few weeks later.

I had the option to go into surgery three weeks after I did the knee but I'm a teacher and we were starting back to school and those first two or three weeks with the class are important so I wanted to go in, get to know the class and get settled, and then go into the operation. So I think I got the operation the end of September. For those few weeks it was literally just gym and strengthening the quad.

It's a weird thing because you can start walking around again so you're going into surgery six weeks later and you're thinking, "do I even need this?"

But then it's certain things you do, like if you bend down or something, you feel the pain in your knee. So, yeah, it was just a lot of prehab getting ready for surgery.

GAA.ie: You had been playing for Waterford for many years by then but it sounds like you were very determined from the get-go that you were going to get back playing at the highest level again rather than let the injury finish your career? I presume you didn't want your last act to be going off in an All-Ireland Final after a couple of minutes?

VK: 100 per cent. I didn't want to always look back and be like, that was the end for me.

I didn't want to be a case looking back and saying I finished after that minute in the All-Ireland Final. I don't know if that's just pure stubbornness for me now, I don't know, but I straight away knew that I wanted to try and get back.

Maybe that helped, having that goal. If I was going to just leave it and say, look, I'm finished now, would I have went into that prehab and go bullheaded at it? Having goals definitely helped with the whole experience, really.

GAA.ie: Talk me through the early days of your prehab post surgery

VK: I found that very tough. It was my first surgery, so I think I was a bit naive going into it. When I woke up straight away there was a huge pain so they gave me some strong medication. I was very lucky, I was in Whitfield in Waterford and they were brilliant.

I found those early weeks very tough. You're so used to training seven days a week, whether it be gym, going to runs, going down to the pitch, and you're spending the first few weeks sitting on your floor trying to bend your knee. I struggled mentally because I don't think I prepared myself for that. I probably just thought I'd be in the gym two or three weeks later. I was very naive going into it and I just had to kind of slow down.

Three days after the surgery I went off for a spin and a coffee with my mum and I ended up having to just go home. I just felt faint and everything. So I just had to say to myself this is relaxation and recovery time is just as important as the gym, so I just had to slow down.

I felt like I'd never be able to bend my knee again. You nearly have to teach your leg how to walk again. It was hard and I probably had to have a chat with myself and people around me were saying you need to relax beacuse those first few weeks were just as important as the latter stages of your recovery.

GAA.ie: Had you any set-backs in your rehab?

VK: After the first few weeks recovery I was about to start my rehab and I went into my physio and there was part of my scar that wasn't healing and he wasn't happy with that so we couldn't start the physio yet. There was a small infection in it and that put me back a week or two but it was fine, it was very early on.

It all went smoothly enough other than that. I had a goal in my head to get back for championship that year. I just had that goal and every two weeks I'd go into my physio, and we'd check everything, do the tests, and see if I could move on. That test where you do the leg extension and kick against the machine, that lovely machine! I struggled with that. The strength is coming from your quad and obviously my quad was very weak so I had a few battles with that machine, a few wobbly moments.

But, if I look back, generally everything went okay. It was my life for those eight months. Everything just revolves around just getting the knee right.

GAA.ie: What was your return to play like, both physically and mentally?

VK: Looking back now, I think I was was trying to convince myself I was fine, that everything was fine. I went back after eight months and I played one half against Antrim in July of 2024. So that was eight or nine months after the All-Ireland Final. I played the first half and you would be nervous. They played me sweeper so I would kind of have that free role.

At the time I was thinking everything was fine, but I was definitely cautious going into tackles, cautious doing things, just nervous really. And then, unfortunately, I didn't look after myself the week later and at training the following week I ended up pulling my quad so I was out again and that was me done for the year.

That was one lesson I did learn. Because I had passed all the tests on the knee and was told I could go back to play, I didn't really listen to the rest of my body. I think the focus was just on the knee. Obviously my quad was very weak because of the surgery and the tendon coming from the quad. I felt a small niggle and on a usual day I wouldn't bother much about it, I'd just stretch and play through it. But I probably should have just stepped out and just said, look, it's just not feeling right, but I kept going and then it pulled. Looking back, I probably didn't look after the rest of myself and I probably ignored things that I probably shouldn't have because I was just wanting to get back really quick.

GAA.ie: That must have been tough. You've gone on a mentally and physically arduous journey to get the knee right only for your quad to go so soon after your comeback? What did that feel like?

VK: I actually mentally think I found that harder to take. I was very upset over that part because, as you said, you're on this journey and you're putting so much time into getting back and you finally get there and then it's something so small. I still look back and think, "why didn't you just step out?" Or why didn't you just say to someone, "my quad's at me, can you have a look?" I should have and I know I should have and it's just something so small. I did find that the hardest part to take. I had worked so hard and then all of a sudden over something that's my own fault, really, I was gone again.

GAA.ie: When you're coming back from an injury like that I guess you don't want to admit any weakness because you're trying to prove yourself to team management and maybe even prove yourself to yourself again?

VK: 100 per cent. I think as any athlete you don't want to be injured. The last thing you want to do is have to turn around and say, I'm not feeling great. You're training so long and you don't want to, as you said, nearly admit weakness. But I think it's something, as I'm getting older, I'm learning to do. I think after the knee that any little niggle I feel or if something's not feeling right, I'll say it. I think we have that culture in GAA where being injured is such a bad thing and I definitely didn't want to say it because I was just back training and feeling good.

GAA.ie: How has the knee been since?

VK: This year, and it's three years now since the injury, I actually feel the strongest I have with it. So that's why when you look back now you're like, "Oh God, I mustn't have been in any way shape or form ready to come back".

We went to Australia last year for a few months and I played a small bit over there but a lot of focus was on the gym. Looking back, not playing camogie for five or six months and not doing all that intensive turning and twisting and actually spending time in the gym really benefited me. I was doing a lot of strength work and gym work and I actually feel like that was probably was the best thing to do. I came back feeling a lot stronger.

I feel really good now but I'm still quite cautious. As in, sometimes if I'm in a tackle or someone comes in with a shoulder then my knee kind of jolts nearly. But I don't think about it a lot, which is good. I feel like mentally I'm okay with it. Three years on, I feel good and I feel strong and I'm confident in it.

GAA.ie: Did your time in Australia refresh you mentally as well?

VK: 100 per cent. You do have guilt when you go and you're wondering are you making the right decision, but I felt it was such an intense year and going to Australia definitely was a mental break and I did feel refreshed. I could just do my own thing and go to the gym or go for a run whenever I wanted. Everything was on my own terms whereas if you're training all the time (with a team) and you're feeling tired you still have to go training or do this or that. So it was definitely a mental break and I did feel refreshed.

I was looking forward to coming back and I was keeping up to date on all the matches and everything. It definitely was needed, I think, for my own head, whether I knew it at the time or not. Looking back now, I definitely feel refreshed and I feel excited to play now.

GAA.ie: You're playing well at the moment and so is the team. Obviously tearing your ACL sidelined you for a period, but do you think you might gain that time back at the end of your career because of the whole experience?

VK: Yeah, I think so. As I said, when you get to the All-Ireland Final and you're 29 turning 30 you are wondering, "will this be my last shot? I don't know." But the minute I did the cruciate, I was like, no, I'm definitely going back.

It's hard to know. I definitely look after myself a little bit more now as well and I'm definitely enjoying it. I feel probably in my own head, getting back after the cruciate, I suppose it's a goal achieved in itself, a kind of an inner thing that I'm proud of.

Would I still be playing if I hadn't done the cruciate? I don't know. But you really appreciate it all the more now.

There's nothing worse than just standing in the sideline and watching everyone running and you're on the bike or in doing squats. I never thought I'd miss running in the rain for pre-season training but I did, I was wishing I was running in the rain!

GAA.ie: Everyone's ACL rehab journey is different, but from your own experience would you have any advice for others embarking on it?

VK: I'd say to just sit down and think, what do you want to do? What are your goals? I think having goals for me really helped because it kept me focused. Getting to a physio that you can trust and who is going to be honest with you is important so if you have a goal they can tell you whether it's realistic or not. You have to be focused but you have to listen to your body as well.

Those first few weeks are really important and you should listen to what people are saying to you. You need to rest if you're feeling tired and I don't think I realised how much stress my body had gone through.

So, yeah, it's just really about listening to your body, taking a rest if needed, and being honest with yourself, the people around you, and team management. It's little things like that I'm still doing now that I probably should have done when I was younger.