KEELY Andrew admits she once took surfing for granted, right up until she was unable to stand up.

The darkest day of her life came in October 2018, putting her promising career on hold.

Ms Andrew sustained a horrific injury at the Roxy Pro France, where her board hit the back of her knee.

Her knee popped out and back in, sending "excruciating" pain to her ligaments.

Fifteen weeks after she was hurt, the Mooloolaba pro has "at last" returned to the water.

She slipped down to Alex Heads on Friday with her brother's "tough love" making up for the confidence she lacked.

"I was terrified at jumping back on the board, the last time I was in the water it happened and having that in the back of my mind was pure fear," Ms Andrew said.

"Not having faith in my knee was tough.

"It was almost life surfing for the first time again - I'd forgotten the thrill of it.

"It took me two goes to slowly stand up and grow my confidence again."

Post-accident World Surf League medical staff described it as a "freak" accident.

But usually only one injury occurs - the 24-year-old had bone bruising, a dislocated patella and ligament damage.

"The hit caused my knee to dislocate which has resulted in a joint bleed, a non-displaced bone fracture of my knee cap, a bone bruise of my femur and a grade 3 rupture of my MCL," she said at the time.

A grade 3 MCL injury is the most severe type of ligament injury and occurs when the ligament is completely torn.

For the first eight weeks she was couch-bound, her daily schedule narrowed down to the summer of cricket.

"It's honestly been the biggest challenge of my life, a lot of the time I felt so frustrated at not getting anywhere," she said.

"Then I started seeing results at about the eight-week mark and my comeback snowballed.

"Before then I'd just been limping around on crutches.

"I really learned a lot about myself, my body and mind. It was so hard.

"Just thinking about the pain now, it isn't easy. It's been such a long road back."

Prior to the Roxy Pro, Ms Andrew had climbed to a career-high raking of 15.

She now is more determined than ever to reach those heights and more.

"Now I'm doing so much better, it's made me hungrier than ever," she said.

She aims to complete her comeback in Newcastle in March, then straight to Manly for the start of the Championship Tour.