MELBOURNE defender Brooke Patterson knows the reality of knee reconstructions better than most.

A physiotherapist completing her PhD in aiding recovery from knee reconstructions, Patterson tore her anterior cruciate ligament while playing basketball in 2010.

She was knocked while in the air and landed awkwardly. Suddenly Patterson was living out her own research.

"I was halfway through my honours in my last year of university when I did my own knee," Patterson said.

"I already had an interest in knees, and after doing my own I saw a lot of people struggling through their rehabilitation, so I wanted to look further into why they weren't getting the best outcome.

"So now I'm doing my PhD at La Trobe University. It's full-time research for three years and I'm looking at improving outcomes in ACL reconstructions."

Patterson said there can be a variety of issues affecting patients after a knee reconstruction.

"People can struggle to regain full strength or function in their knee, they may not get back to the same level of sport as before [and] they can suffer from ongoing pain as well as early arthritis," she said.

"We've found that people who have an ACL reconstruction between the ages of 15 and 25 can develop early arthritis in their 20s and 30s, and even need a knee replacement at a young age."

The 27-year-old is from Tasmania, where she played state-level basketball before moving to Victoria to study.

She played for the Bulleen Boomers in the Big V competition as recently as 2015, before making her footy debut for VFL powerhouse Darebin Falcons last year.

"I played footy at primary school with the boys, so I had the basic skills and muscle memory when I picked up a footy again at Darebin. I'd also watched a lot of footy – it's a dominant [sport] in Tassie," she said.

"Darebin was a great place to learn how to play again. It's such a good environment.

"Playing with girls like Daisy [Pearce] and Katie [Brennan] made it a lot easier to pick up the game."

Drafted by Melbourne with its 13th pick last year (104^th overall), Patterson played four of seven games in the inaugural NAB AFL Women’s season, battling a hamstring injury along the way.

She saw AFLW as a challenge she couldn't ignore.

"It was really good timing. A few months after I started [with Darebin] there was the announcement of the national competition.

"I'd crossed from basketball looking for a new challenge and to play for fun, so I thought I'd give it a crack.

"If I went along and I wasn't good enough, that would be OK. But I'd regret it if I didn't try."

Women are more likely to suffer ACL injuries than men due to structural differences in body shape (bone shape and size, a wider-set pelvis, looser ligaments) as well as movement patterns.

"There have been studies done that show girls land differently on one leg after jumping than boys do," Patterson said.

"There's also been a 150 per cent increase in ACL reconstructions in boys and girls who aged between 10 and 14 over the past decade.

"With the improvement in pathways for girls footy, there's going to be more girls playing footy at a higher intensity, so we're keen to promote injury prevention as much as possible."

Patterson ran a session at a female coaches' forum on injury prevention last year and was subsequently contacted by coaches asking if she could help local clubs out.

"Being involved in the research world, I know how much information is out there. But there's almost a 10-15-year delay in getting that information to physios, let alone to people in the community.

"It's important to work with players at a young age, because then it's normalised for them and it's also easier to change movement patterns.

"Injury prevention programs are shown to have reduced the number of acute knee injuries by 54 per cent, so it does work."

Currently sidelined with achilles soreness, Patterson admitted she wasn’t the best patient.

"I'm trying to make myself do what I'd recommend my patients, but it's not easy," she said with a laugh.

"The idea is to rest up and be able to attack pre-season [with Melbourne] as best as I can."