Why I Chose to Have Other Physios Do My ACL Rehab

As a physiotherapist, I spend a lot of time guiding people through injury — helping them rebuild confidence, strength, and performance. But when I tore my ACL and meniscus, suddenly I was on the other side of the treatment table.

Like many physios, I had the knowledge and the tools to design my own rehab. I’ve taken plenty of athletes through the ACL journey before. But I made a deliberate choice not to do it myself. Instead, I built a small team of experts from around the world to take me through my own rehab process.

At first glance, that might sound unnecessary — why pay someone to do something you can already do? But for me, there were a few big reasons why outsourcing my rehab was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

1. Reducing the mental load

Rehab is hard enough physically — but the mental side is what really wears people down. I didn’t want to spend my recovery constantly second-guessing whether I was doing the right thing or pushing too hard.

Having another physio guide the process meant I could take off my “clinician hat” and just focus on being the patient. It freed up my headspace and helped me stay consistent, accountable, and objective through the ups and downs of recovery.

2. Learning from the best

I saw this injury as a chance to learn — not just to recover. So, I reached out to three practitioners whose work I really respect and who each bring something unique to the ACL world:

• Jorden Radliff (Melbourne): works almost exclusively with ACL clients and guided me through the early stages — the foundation work and key movement re-education that set everything up.

• Ravi Patel (USA), founder of The ACL Athlete and leader of a global team of ACL specialists, took over for the middle stages. His systems-based approach to strength and performance rehab completely changed how I think about progression.

• Alan Murdoch (UK), from Elevate Speed Rehab in Bath, handled the later stages. He’s pushing the entire sports rehab industry forward with his return-to-performance methods, and his work with professional athletes — including an Olympic medallist who returned to sport in 7 months — speaks for itself.

Each of them independently chose to focus on different parts of the process, which ended up fitting perfectly together.

3. Covering blind spots

Even with experience, it’s easy to miss your own weaknesses. Having others look at my movement, programming, and progress through their own lenses exposed things I would never have caught on my own.

It’s a bit like the old saying: “a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.” The same goes for physios — you can know the process inside out, but it’s almost impossible to be truly objective about your own rehab.

It reminded me how valuable it is to have an outside perspective — even (or especially) when you know what you’re doing.

4. Building networks and perspective

The bonus of working with these practitioners was being able to build genuine relationships with leaders in the field. Each has a slightly different approach, and combining those insights has massively improved how I now help my own ACL clients at SportsFit.

The rehab process became an ongoing masterclass — one that has made me a better clinician, not just a better athlete.

Where I’m at now

Twelve months post-op, I’m back playing both cricket (as a fast bowler) and basketball — sports that place huge demands on the knee. I’ve not only returned to full performance, but I’ve become faster and more evasive than before the injury.

I’ve also hit personal bests in quad strength (both sides), deadlifts, and top-speed sprinting, all while feeling more confident in my movement than ever.

More than anything, this experience has given me empathy for what athletes go through and reinforced how powerful it is to take a collaborative, structured approach to rehab.

Final thoughts

Having other physios do my ACL rehab was never about lacking knowledge — it was about creating the best possible environment for recovery.

I genuinely believe that this approach — combining expert guidance, accountability, and a learner’s mindset — helped me come back stronger than ever.

If you’re navigating your own ACL journey and want to talk through your situation, I’d love to help. You can reach me at SportsFit Health & Rehab, or message me directly on Instagram @pace_physio to chat about your goals.