Tobin Heath has revealed that she was forced to undergo a second knee surgery after a year of rehab, which could end her playing career.
Heath has not played since the 2022 NWSL season, which was cut short when the then-OL Reign winger had knee surgery in the fall.
The 36-year-old had been a mainstay for club and country leading up to her most recent stint in the NWSL, winning two Olympic gold medals and two World Cups while collecting 181 U.S. women’s national team caps after making her debut in 2008.
Heath hasn’t spoken much about her playing future over the past two years, but did say earlier this month that she hasn’t completely closed the door on a return to the field.
In the first episode of the new season of “The RE-CAP Show” — Heath’s podcast alongside her partner Christen Press, the attacker revealed a previously undisclosed surgery that saw her receive a cartilage transplant in her knee.
“I think it was public when I got my first knee surgery, which was actually just kind of a clean-out of the knee,” Heath said.
“I ended up trying to rehab back for about a year and got pretty close. I thought about signing for a team. At that time I didn’t think I was there enough with the knee to be able to commit fully to a team, because the way I play football is I’m all in — like I play to be at the highest level, I play to be winning World Cups, Olympics, club championships.
“And then obviously with that first surgery not helping, I got a second pretty big surgery with my knee that then put me in the category of like, ‘Will I ever play professionally again?'”
Heath said she initially went into the second surgery unaware of how major it would be, but an examination of her knee revealed that she needed a comprehensive procedure.
“When I got there, I thought I was going to be getting kind of like a smaller version of a surgery, and right before I got into surgery, there was kind of a big revelation about the current state of my knee that put me in the category to get a serious knee surgery. It was a cartilage transplant,” Heath said.
Heath said she is still rehabbing intensely as she aims to potentially return to the field. But the 36-year-old admitted that she’s unsure if she’ll get there.
“I kind of just pray to God and say like, ‘Whatever your will is for my career, that’s what it’s going to be,'” Heath said, “and I’ll just work my ass off and see where that gets.”
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