Don't sugar coat it

“Don’t sugar coat it” asked Alpine Canada’s Morgan Megarry of Canadian Sport Institute Calgary and Alpine national team physiotherapist, Courtney Brown, as he went down on the slopes while training in Alta Badia, Italy resulting in his 5th major knee injury.

A torn MCL, ACL, and meniscus; a skier’s worst nightmare. Knowing he had a long recovery ahead of him, Morgan’s initial anger and pain was well warranted as this injury would put him out for the season. “I was a wreck” said Megarry, stating it was a big year for him, a make or break one at that. Morgan who was claiming veteran status due to his long and successful career as an alpine skier had battled with injuries for the last two seasons.

After a smooth journey back to Canada, Morgan was in surgery within three days of his arrival with renowned surgeon, Dr. Mark Heard. Heard has been responsible for all of Megarry’s surgeries, which formed a close doctor-patient relationship where texting each other was a frequent form of communication. “It’s been pretty amazing to have my orthopedics surgeons’ number to text him to see him the next day. I was being put in front of the best surgeons. I think he is the best ortho surgeon for skiers in Alberta, if not in Canada.”

After a successful surgery, Morgan was back in the gym working with CSI Calgary’s physiotherapist, Sarah Robinson and strength and conditioning coach, Jeremiah Barnert. Throughout his recovery, Megarry says they were super helpful in maintaining an efficient rehabilitation routine and constant communication with each other. “What I feel the biggest positive in that interaction was that everyone was in touch and on the same page every day”, he explains. “If there was ever anything that wasn’t aligning, I felt comfortable approaching both Sarah and Jeremiah to get back on the same page and into a routine, and that was huge.”

Now retired, Morgan knew how crucial this rehab would be to not only get him back on snow successfully which he accomplished 11 months later, but to be able to maintain a normal quality of life post-sport. “With the amount of trauma that my knee has seen, anyone who knows about what has happened would be really impressed with my recovery.” And with that, he credits the care of the team at CSI Calgary and the mutual respect they formed as they worked through a challenging time in his career. “Good people who really care and they thought hard about it and had intention behind what they were doing.”