How Radiology helped keep NZ's top tennis player on court

On the 2019 International Day of Radiology (IDoR) one of New Zealand’s greatest athletes, Marina Erakovic, has revealed the vital role radiology played in extending her tennis career.

Erakovic, who retired from professional tennis in December 2018 following a series of long-term injuries, said radiologists played a huge role in ensuring she was able to fulfil her dream of representing her country at the highest level.

“From the age of 14, I more or less got stress fractures every two years,” she said. “One year I was playing through extreme pain in my knee at Wimbledon. I got some scans done and was told that there wasn’t any serious injury so I kept playing, but the pain didn’t go away. I thought I was going crazy. When I got home a radiologist reviewed the images and found a small stress fracture on the inside of my patella.

“The expertise of radiologists played a huge role in my career. It helped to give accurate diagnoses and in turn informed my recovery, training plans and scheduling to make sure that I could get back on court as soon as possible.

“I’m extremely proud to have been able to represent my country and am thankful to have had the support of such a fantastic team of medical experts.”

Erakovic achieved a career high ranking of 39 in the world in singles and 25th in doubles – often flying the New Zealand flag solo on the world tour.

Clinical radiologist with a special interest in musculoskeletal imaging, Dr Quentin Reeves said:

“It’s not just our sporting heroes that benefit from radiology. Most people will have experienced a sports-related injury and have had imaging like an MRI, X-ray or CT scan at some time in their life.

“As radiologists we review these images to determine the nature of the injury, the exact location and pass on a detailed report that helps to inform the recommended treatment options and likely length of recovery to get you active again as quickly as possible.”

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