Miller undergoes knee surgery

North Harrison senior standout guard Tara Miller had successful knee surgery Monday in Louisville.
The Indiana All-Star and Miss Basketball candidate tore her anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and cartilage in her left knee in a Nov. 16 game against Crawford County.
The surgery, which lasted more than two hours, was performed by Dr. Raymond Shea, the team physician at the University of Louisville.
In addition to the tears, there was a calcium buildup on Miller’s knee that was shaved smooth.
‘They gave me a nerve block so I didn’t feel anything in my knee until this morning,’ Miller said Tuesday in a phone interview. ‘It’s really hurting now, so they gave me some pain killers and told me to double up on them if I needed it.’
There are two preferred methods to repair a torn ACL: the autograft and the allograft.
The first method involves harvesting a piece of the hamstring from the patient and using it to reconstruct the ACL.
The second method ‘ which Dr. Shea used on Miller ‘ involves removing the ACL or Achilles tendon from a cadaver and using the tendon as a replacement ACL by screwing both ends into the tibia (lower leg bone) and femur (the upper bone).
‘The I.U. doctor wanted to go with the hamstring, but Dr. Shea thinks this is the best way to go, and I think it is, too,’ Miller said. ‘When you take the hamstring out, then that weakens the knee more. Why weaken it when they can make it stronger?’
The Indiana University-signee is already undergoing rehabilitation on a machine that bends her knee for her. Yesterday, she was able to get the knee to bend at a 40-degree angle. By the end of the week, it should be up to a full, 90-degree bend.
After a couple of months of rehab at home, Miller said she’ll work on building the strength in her knee at North Harrison and will continue to rehab at I.U. throughout her college career.
Miller says she’s received well-wishes from all over, including calls from nearly every coach in the Mid-Southern Conference, a call (and a promise of a Miss Basketball vote) from Jeffersonville girls varsity coach Chad Gilbert, and get-well trinkets from the 7th and 8th grade basketball teams from South Central, her former AAU teammates from New Albany ‘ Stephanie Lynch and Trish Bennett ‘ and the Silver Creek girls basketball team.
‘Silver Creek gave me a teddy bear wearing an Indiana jersey with ‘Miller’ on the back. They even taped up the left leg of the teddy bear,’ Miller said.
As for the possibility of a return to the hardwood, Dr. Shea told Miller she could not play for six months. That means her career as a Lady Cat is over, but it doesn’t necessarily close the door on Miller realizing a dream and being a member of the Indiana All-star Team.
In the meantime, Miller says she’ll continue to help her head coach, Missy Voyles, to scout and help her teammates any way she can.
‘It’s really hard to explain stuff to them because I’m so used to being out on the court doing it,’ she said. ‘I’m seeing stuff out there now that I didn’t notice before and am trying to help my team. I think they relate better and listen to me.’