After missing last season due to injuries, Boston Winchester returned to the varsity basketball roster ready to assist the team in a highly anticipated comeback.
“I was diagnosed with something called Patellofemoral Pain Disorder,” Winchester said. “I went from activity every single day with basketball to absolutely nothing.”
Patellofemoral Pain Disorder is characterized by pain around or behind the kneecap that is usually aggravated by explosive movements in the knee such as running, jumping, or climbing stairs. It has a variety of causes such as overuse of the knee, foot problems, or muscle imbalance.
The diagnosis devastated him, and Winchester immediately started physical therapy, taking him off the court. The amount of time he would be out would only make matters worse.
“I started going to physical therapy around the time that the fall league started for basketball [last year], and I had to just sit on the sideline watching,” Winchester said. “I wanted to be in there so bad. The hardest part of my recovery was that I had to just watch and I wouldn’t be able to help.”
After his diagnosis, Winchester immediately focused on recovery. The doctors found that his knee had been degrading because his hip muscles were weak. This caused his knees to go inward when he exploded into a jump or sprint. He would go on to hip exercises with resistance bands, then progress to more explosive movements such as small jumps.
“Coach [Larry] Green was a great support,” Winchester said. “He found a couple of workouts specifically for my hips which helped a lot.”
But physical therapy hadn’t always been easy for him. It would take lots of time out of his routine, even long after he injured himself.
“The physical therapy wasn’t difficult in itself,” Winchester said. “I had to do the stretches three times a day for almost two months and it was just so much time out of my day.”
He would miss two months in total. By then, the season was over. Winchester was cleared a week before this year’s tryouts began. This allowed him to return to the court in his first appearance on the team since the 2022-23 season.
The risk of injury continued to be a challenging factor in his return to the court. While Winchester wasn’t too worried about re-injury, his teammates would notice him acting differently.
“He’s always been reserved,” said Jackson Calhoun, another teammate of Winchester’s. “I’ve heard and seen how he’s not as explosive as he used to be, but he still fills his role just like he used to.”
This sudden change before the season had started wouldn’t only affect Winchester. His teammates immediately noticed something was missing as the games went on without him. As his teammates found out about the injury, it was clear this wouldn’t be good for the team.
“It definitely wasn’t a good feeling,” Bryce Renz, Winchester’s teammate said. “I was really disappointed. It kind of sucks missing a key piece on the team.”
But this didn’t spur the Knights away from their year. They continued to push through without him and supported him every step of the way. Despite the hardships he went through during his recovery, his team never abandoned him.
“We would just root for him while he’s on the sidelines,” Renz said. “We were always there for him if he needed help with something.” Winchester wouldn’t abandon the team either.
He even pitched in during his newly found off- time doing everything he could for his team.
“Even though I was injured, I was still going to all the games,” Winchester said. “Even if I wasn’t able to play, I was still able to help out the freshmen and stuff like that.”
Boston, however, would soon see progress after his return.
“Before the injury, I had just started to consistently dunk, and I could do self-lobs too,” Winchester said. “I was able to, against my therapist’s recommendations, dunk a week after I started physical therapy. Being able to dunk so soon after physical therapy gave me hope for recovery.”
Eventually, he recovered, learning about himself in the process.
“I learned that I can be very persistent when I want to be. I wanted nothing more than to recover from this injury and get back to playing the game that I love. It made me realize that, if I put my mind to it, I can recover from anything,” Winchester said.
And even though he learned more about himself, Winchester had advice for others too.
“Listen to your physical therapist,” Winchester said. “It’s never a good idea to just push through serious pain. I never did any of that general upkeep stuff, like I never iced my knees, I would just take Ibuprofen and get back out there. But now I know you should always take care of your legs because they’re the most important thing to you in basketball.”