Athens, Ga. (October 31, 2024) – Jack Mullen, a senior football player at Clarke Central High School, is Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center’s Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Athlete of the Month. The Athlete of the Month award is given each month to a student athlete who has shown perseverance while dealing with an injury or illness.
Mullen suffered a midfoot injury during a football game in 2023, known as a Lisfranc injury, in which the bones in the middle of the foot can be broken or the supporting ligaments in the midfoot are torn. An injury to the many small bones and strong ligaments in the mid-foot region can be severe and may require surgery to treat and many months to heal.
Stephen White, M.D., an orthopedic and sports medicine surgeon at Piedmont Athens Regional, determined surgery would be necessary restore stability Mullen’s midfoot. Surgery allows the physician to realign the joints and reposition the fractured bone fragments to their normal positions using an open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) procedure, which secures the bones in place with plates or screws. A few months after his initial surgery, Mullen started physical therapy with Chase Aurandt, with the goal of playing football his senior year.
"Jack was very resilient and pushed himself to improve at each session,” said Aurandt. “Any injury that involves surgery on the foot can be fairly difficult to recover from, especially when trying to return to a contact sport”
Mullen did well in therapy after his initial surgery, but still had some issues with pain during push-off for running, cutting, and jumping activities. Because he had made such progress and the foot had healed properly, Dr. White took Mullen back to surgery and removed the hardware that had been put in place to stabilize the foot. About a week later, Mullen returned to physical therapy, where his competitive nature would not allow himself to fall behind.
"Jack pushed himself to gain better balance and stability and his hard work paid off. He’s back on the football field and playing his senior year at Clarke Central," said Aurandt.
The Piedmont Athens Regional Orthopedic Sports Medicine team established the Athlete of the Month program to recognize the dedication of student athletes in the area.
"The athletes we work with are truly amazing and have to overcome so much to play sports again after an injury or illness," said Katie Terrell, athletic trainer and outreach coordinator for the hospital’s sports medicine program. "This award was developed to celebrate their hard work in our sports medicine rehab program. We’re excited about working with student athletes from middle school through college and into adulthood. Our athletic trainers and therapists have advanced training in sports medicine and are dedicated to keeping student athletes playing their sport."