Top footballer told she would ‘never play again’ embarks on science career inspired by horror knee injury

A former footballer whose career was cut short after she sustained a knee injury and was told “you’re never going to play again” has said her time in rehabilitation inspired her to pursue a new profession in biomechanics – and, after earning a doctorate in the field, she now helps other injured footballers with their recovery.

Dr Kim Duffy, 32, who works as a senior product manager for life sciences at Vicon, said she played football “all the time” during her childhood; she played with her brother, was taught how to do a slide tackle by her father, and ended up “churning” up her parents’ garden from practising so much.

At the age of five, she joined Sheffield Wednesday Ladies Football Club (SWLFC) and her sporting career “grew from there”.

However, a decade later, during a “brutal” FA cup game against Sheffield United Women’s Football Club, Kim was the victim of a crunching tackle on her knee.

She said it “felt like her kneecap had snapped in half” and, after being rushed to hospital, she was later told that she had sustained an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and may never play again, and she needed to undergo rehabilitation and keyhole surgery.

After a second injury and further rehabilitation, she learned of motion capture technology and biomechanics – the science of movement of a living body – and this inspired her to pursue a profession in this field, allowing her to investigate and prevent injuries like the one that ended her own footballing career.

While she had always envisioned playing football professionally, now, looking back, she believes it all happened for a reason.

“At the time, I never would have thought this would have happened – but I’m a believer that things happen for a reason,” Kim said.

“Obviously, I was always meant to go down this path, so looking back now, it makes sense.”

She added: “It very much felt like a rollercoaster… but it’s definitely now the time to enjoy life elsewhere.”

Kim said she “always remembers football being a part of her life”.

She said the feeling of running with the ball or scoring a goal is “indescribable”.

During primary school, Kim said she was the only girl who played in the boys’ team, as there was not a girls’ team at the time, and after joining SWLFC at the age of five, she continued to play regularly, progressing through the different age groups.

However, this all changed during the FA cup game when Kim was 15.

“It was a very brutal match; we were getting knocked left, right and centre,” Kim said.

“I just remember running down the line, about to cross the ball in… and I could see this player was just going to go for me.

“I let the ball roll in front of me a little bit because I just thought, you know what, this is not worth it, but she still went for my knee anyway.

“The studs went to the side of my knee, and I just remember my foot went one way and the top of my leg went the other way, and I just fell to the ground.

“I remember looking at my knee; it just felt like my kneecap had snapped in half.”

Kim was rushed to Sheffield Children’s Hospital and she was told she had sustained an ACL injury.

She was initially told it may only be a partial ligament rupture but then another doctor said: “You’re never going to play again, or play sports”.

“It went from being very positive, to a person who said: ‘That’s it, your career’s over’,” Kim said.

“I felt sad; I just felt like I couldn’t talk about it.

“I felt like I had lost my left leg because sports were always a big part of my life, even not playing football, just other sports.

“I just thought, if I can’t play sports again, what am I going to do?”

Kim said she had envisaged playing football for the rest of her life and had dreams of one day getting a scholarship and playing in the US, but despite this disheartening news, she wanted to “prove the doctor wrong” – and “that was the journey of rehabilitation from there”.

Her rehabilitation included physio treatment, manual movement, stretches, squats and lunges to help build the muscles around the knee.

She also underwent an MRI and a knee arthroscopy – a type of keyhole surgery for checking or repairing joints.

Kim recovered well but she then sustained another ACL and a medial collateral ligament (MCL) knee injury playing football at the age of 20.

This took place while she was studying sports science at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) – and it was during this second time in rehabilitation that she was introduced to state-of-the-art motion capture technology to better understand her knee injuries and improve her recovery.

From then on, her fascination with biomechanics was born – but it was also at this point that Kim knew her dream of a professional football career was over.

“It definitely felt like, OK, I’m going to have to give up football this time and really walk away, and just think about something else,” she said.

“It was a case of, I could play for one more season, but I’m one more bad tackle away from not playing again, or not walking.”

Kim said coming to this realisation was extremely difficult, particularly as women’s football was growing in popularity at the time – but on a positive note, she had developed a passion for biomechanics during her rehabilitation and this inspired the next stage of her education.

“When I first did my ACL, I was very much inspired by the rehabilitation side and how you can get someone through recovery quickly,” Kim continued.

“That was the reason why I went down the sports science route from college and then into university.

“Going through that injury made me realise biomechanics is definitely where I want to go.”

Kim chose to study a Master’s in biomechanics of gait and posture at LJMU before completing a PhD at the University of Essex.

She now works for motion capture company Vicon, leading projects to understand, investigate and prevent injuries like the one that ended her sporting career, and she has since worked with local football teams, such as Reading Football Club Women, helping with rehabilitation.

She believes her own experiences of playing football, getting injured, and going through rehabilitation enable her to work with a more “personal” and “empathetic” approach, and she hopes to continue helping others recover in the best way possible after injury.

“If you’re part of the business that helps people move better, or you’ve had an injury and then they can have a positive rehabilitation experience, and it gets them back to doing what they want to do – that’s where I want to go,” Kim said.

You can find out more about Vicon here: www.vicon.com