Senior soccer player reflects on rehabilitation process after PCL and meniscus tear in her knee

Senior center back Jiah Jung dribbles the ball during a game against Wilcox High on Dec. 7, 2022, seven weeks before her season-ending injury.

On a seemingly unremarkable day, senior center back Jiah Jung and the rest of the girls’ varsity soccer team competed in a tough game against Santa Clara on Jan. 24, exactly halfway through last year’s winter season. The score was 0-0 as the timer on the scoreboard counted down the minutes until halftime.

After moving up to the De Anza division and playing against tougher competition, the team was having a fairly successful season even with a small roster and expected minor injuries. Little did the team know that Jung’s season-ending injury would alter the course of the game (contributing heavily to the 3-0 loss) and negatively affect the rest of the season. The Falcons ended the season fourth in the league and did not make it to CCS.

Jung toppled to the ground in front of the goal post after a Santa Clara player delivered a heavy blow directly to her right knee. As she lay on the field in searing pain, the Bruins managed to find the back of the net and score, adding insult to her injury as the opposing players celebrated.

“I was really upset when the other team scored, but I couldn’t do much except lay on the ground because my knee hurt so much,” Jung said. “My first reaction was, ‘Wow, I guess this is what it feels like to get injured.’”

In the first few days after the game, Jung’s pain seemed to cease a little and she convinced herself that it must be a minor sprain. But medical imaging scans revealed a much more severe problem: a torn component of her knee.

Lacking the mobility needed to play the sport she had started when she was 6, Jung knew that she would have to quit playing for at least several months.

“I was really devastated that I couldn’t play the senior day game against Santa Clara,” she said. “I knew a lot of our seniors and wanted to help them win their last game.”

After the initial scan, the doctors gave Jung an arthroscopic surgery to assess exactly which area had been torn. Doctors including Dr. Murray performed a simple operation by inserting a tube to view the interior of her knee.

The results showed that Jung’s posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) was torn from hyperextension. Her meniscus was also partially torn off the bone, but Dr. Murray was able to reattach it.

For soccer players, a PCL injury commonly occurs when the posterior cruciate ligament at the back of the knee is directly impacted and is usually accompanied with other ligament injuries such as tears to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), medial collateral ligament (MCL) and lateral collateral ligament (LCL). A meniscus tear is also common for athletes, occurring when the cartilage that cushions the shinbone and thighbone is forcefully twisted.

Post surgery, it was mandatory for Jung to practice physical therapy exercises every day. She performed movements like squats and jumps, which focused on neuromuscular control to avoid risk of reinjury.

“It required a lot of active effort to advance the healing process and to not become lazy with my recovery, especially because many of the exercises were highly repetitive,” she said.

Jung was also forced to use crutches, which made it difficult to walk around campus. She would often skip going to certain classes during tutorial because moving around was such a struggle.

Like most athletes with a low-level PCL or meniscus tear, Jung went through meticulous rehabilitation for seven months before returning to play. She was periodically evaluated for progress and slowly transitioned from crutches to professional physical therapy and at-home physical therapy.

For Jung, the sudden distance between her and soccer made her feel uneasy, as she has played nonstop since kindergarten. She first entered the sport when her mom signed her up for a recreational team in order to encourage her to be social.

“As a child, soccer was just meeting with friends and having fun,” Jung said. “It was around fourth grade, when I realized that I really enjoyed playing soccer just for myself.”

Even throughout middle and high school, she never had to think twice about devoting herself to competitive soccer and she joined De Anza Force’s 06 National Premier League (NPL) team during sixth-grade. She just wanted to play, no matter what club team she was placed on or what collegiate opportunities she received.

“I enjoy soccer because it’s a sport that reflects a lot of your individual hard work and how well you’re able to mesh with others,” Jung said.

In September, seven months after her injury, Jung was finally cleared to play. Her first game back with her De Anza Force team against Placer United was especially exciting, since she had worked hard to improve her dribbling during the later stages of her recovery, and the effort paid off.

Jung is proud for having persisted through months of healing and still coming back strong to support her team. Her knee is fully functional now, but some effects of the injury still linger.

Jung continues to tape her knee before games and practices and does physical therapy to make sure that the rest of her muscles are strong enough to support her knee. Even though she still lacks full physical strength, she feels that her personal dedication for soccer has transformed.

“The whole experience of getting injured helped me realize how much I love my sport,” she said. “I need to make the most of the time I have left in high school to enjoy it.”