Anonymous Collective: ACL Tears & Knee Pain

Growing up, I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus but as I was trying to deal with this pain my voice was undermined and I was waved away by doctors who thought I was making a big deal out of nothing. Turned out I was not, and I ended up having knee surgery due to the build up of my injuries.

I don’t want other women to go through what I went through. I want to see a top to women being constantly undermined for their pain and suffering.

I want to see a system that strives to take a more equitable approach towards the care of women. I want to see a change in how we help the bodies and minds of women become and stay healthy. I want use to help women thrive.

I want to see a few things:

• Provide women with free health education, throughout their lives.

• Create policies that are based upon scientifically sound evidence and promote culturally relevant, equity driven, and inclusive care for women.

  • Policies that make sure women have full autonomy over their bodies.

    • Women must have the inalienable right to healthcare - no one should be blocked from accessing the care they need.

  • Policies should support women’s health conditions that disproportionately affect women like ACL tears, anxiety, depression.

    • At the same time, physical conditions should not be chalked up merely to be psychological, in women. (I am tired of hearing stories of women's health concerns automatically being reduced to mental health issues because women's health is multifaceted.)

Caring for the health of others includes many forms of care. A deep understanding of the physiological elements of human health is crucial, but maintaining a sentence of empathy in caring for others is just as important as we work to transform women’s health. That is why women’s health must be holistic - a combination of understanding that women's health encompasses mind, body, and soul. This is what will allow women to have the full effect of healthcare - which should be to help people become as healthy as possible to function as independently as possible.

Companies that focus on women’s health must not so merely for profit but for an inclination towards genuinely caring and supporting women as the backbone of our society. They should not be built just for women who can afford them but should be built upon values of equity and justice- and contribute to the treatment of women from all walks of life.