A fly ball nearly fouled her senior year, but Arshia Jooma didn't give up. The Suwanee native dug deep, battled through doubt and recovered from a devastating injury to great success.
At 17, the senior faced a long recovery just as recruiting opportunities mattered most. She had surgery, months of physical therapy and plenty of doubts about whether she could return to the sport she loved.
She did.
Peachtree Ridge High School's Arshia Jooma is Northside Hospital's latest Comeback Athlete of the Week, and this is their story.
A big season brought short
During a summer practice her junior year, the softball outfielder approached a pop-up when her knee suddenly gave way. Arshia had completely torn her ACL.
"They had to help me off the field, and it was not a pretty sight," she said.
For athletes, torn ACLs can be dream ending — soul crushing. Female athletes are two to eight times more likely to suffer ACL injuries than male athletes. They are also less likely to return to sports after an ACL injury, according to the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine.
Upset and sad, the Suwanee teen's head was swirling. As a junior, her next season was destined to be a big one — a final opportunity to impress college team recruiters. Now all of that was in jeopardy. The reality of missing her senior season was starting to seep in.
"It was a pretty concerning injury," she said. "It completely ruined my mentality, if I'm going to be honest."
It was up to Northside Hospital orthopedic surgeon Dr. Elan Golan, and his team of sports medicine experts, to get her back on the field.
Supporting the largest high school athletic outreach program in the Southeast, Northside Hospital Orthopedics serves over 50 Georgia schools, providing sports medicine specialists, athletic trainers and more to safely bring out the best in local athletes. Northside is the official healthcare provider for Georgia State University athletics, Reinhardt University and Georgia Gwinnett College. These partnerships are powered by a massive team of experienced health experts with a unified goal: getting student-athletes, like Arshia, safely back to doing what they love most.
For the Suwannee softballer, it meant surgery. Surgery was followed by near daily physical therapy routines. The process was arduous, pushing the player mentally and physically.
"I pretty much lived at physical therapy," Arshia said.
Months of hard work, however, had paid off. She was finally ready. Back on the field for her senior year of varsity softball, Arshia's making plays better than ever.
"The recovery experience was honestly really scary and difficult," she said. "It wasn't the prettiest. Recovery constantly had me questioning myself. I didn't know if this was helping or not, and I was just really eager to get back. I didn't know whether I could, so the recovery experience was very hard on the mental side. Coming back to sports — it was huge for me. It truly meant so much."
ACL injuries don't have to spell the end of your athletic career. With the right sports medicine experts, like Northside's nationally recognized orthopedics team, returning to your favorite sport is possible.
"If there's anyone going through this injury right now, the only thing I have to say is that it will get better," Arshia said. "At first, I'm not going to lie, it is really rough. But, with hard work, it gets better. And you will soon see the results with your hard work."
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*The health story shared here is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Patients should consult with their own physician before making medical decisions.
