I felt it was time to lose the brace before it became a crutch. It’s been more than two years since my surgery, so I think the time was right; it provided the support I needed, but wearing it any longer might have made me dependent on it. So far, I don’t feel like I’m favouring one leg or the other without it. I will say this, though: I am MUCH more cognizant of the pressure I put on my knees during sports than I’ve ever been in my entire life. Hopefully this will prevent another injury.

For anyone interested, the knee brace that’s kept me going the past couple of years has been the Donjoy Defiance. You can view the posts I wrote on the brace here. I have nothing but good things to say about it.

When I first got the brace, my surgeon was adamant I wear the brace for a “couple of years”. I haven’t been back to see him in quite some time, and I wish I had got some clarification on that. Counting back to the surgery date, a “couple of years” has already passed. Counting back to when I started playing sports again, a “couple of years” is still four months away. My surgeon would be the first to admit, though, he’s very cautious when it comes to bracing. I’ve encountered many people (like Andrew) who have surgeons that don’t recommend a brace.

So what’s a guy to do? This has become a conundrum for me because I want to take up soccer, and I can’t wear the Donjoy on the pitch (the league I’m playing in allows ‘soft’ braces only). To be honest, I’m really leaning toward finally losing the brace. I don’t want it to become a crutch.

In order to make sure I’m not making a stupid decision, I also consulted the wise, wise Interwebs, and came across this great article on bracing in Rehab Management (“the interdisciplinary journal of rehabilitation”). There are some very interesting nuggets in the article. Among them:

• Most doctors tell athletes (and I’m quoting from the article), “I don’t care how you feel, I want you to wear the brace for 1 year postsurgery.”
• Becoming physically dependent on a brace is actually not too bad a thing. If this happens, it’s safer to keep wearing it than get weaned off it.
• Rehab is so good these days, 90% of ACL surgery patients can expect to eventually lose their brace entirely.

Fascinating article. If you’ve had ACL surgery, you should definitely check it out.

So now that winter’s done, what am I gonna do all summer?

I’ve signed myself up for a litany of physical activities in an effort to lose 10 pounds. I put on a good few when I tore my ACL, and I’ve never lost it. I can make excuses until the cows come home, but the fact of the matter is it’s due to not enough physical activity and probably too much bad food. I’m hoping a ridiculously active summer will help me lose weight. Eating better will help too.

Here’s what I got planned:

• Ice hockey Mondays, roller hockey Tuesdays, ultimate frisbee Sundays;
• The Sporting Life 10k down Toronto’s Yonge Street in May;
• The Ride for Heart down the Don Valley Parkway, a major Toronto expressway, in June;
• Tour for Kids, a 4000-600k cycling ride in August;
• Weekly cycling rides on my road bike;
• The occasional mountain bike ride down Toronto’s Don Valley Trail.

So I’m planning on a busy summer, and you’ll be hearing all about. Thing is, summertime also means Hoegaarden and patios. Hopefully I can work all that beer off! Hopefully Josh will be here too, and the two of us will also cover next year’s snowboarding season. Because it’s never too early, right?

In the meantime, I just wanted to flag Andrew’s blog as he recovers from an ACL replacement. Anyone with questions about the process should follow along; he went under the knife five days ago. I can’t wait until he plays ultimate frisbee with us again, as he’s one of the best damn players I’ve ever seen.

According to a litany of articles, the answer is a resounding yes.

• According to a recent article The Guardian, some women in their 20s never fully recover, even after successful surgery.
• A source in this ESPN.COM article surmises women are twice as susceptible than men to suffer an ACL injury. Kee1.com says women are actually eight times more likely to tear their ACL.

But why? There doesn’t seem to be any cohesive answer, though this New York Times article blames anatomy.

These statistics are shocking. I had no idea there was a problem, let alone this bad.

• Tiger Woods.
• Tom Brady.
• That football coach that got run over on the sidelines recently.
• This dude on my ultimate frisbee team.
• Dan Connor from the Carolina Panthers.
• Nate Burleson of the Seattle Seahawks.

What is going on?

It got me thinking: is it possible to prevent ACL tears? According to a litany of articles on the Internet, it is. But how?

• According to a source in this article at First Tracks Online Ski Magazine, focusing on strength and flexibility will help prevent ACL injuries.
• About.com suggests focusing on balance, power and agility will prevent ACL tears. In fact, they reference an entire ACL Injury Prevention Program. Cool.
• FitFAQ.com has the top six exercies to prevent ACL injuries.
• This article at USA today describes how to reduce the likelihood of an injury by 20 to 80 percent. It also features an amazing statistic: “There are an estimated 80,000 annual ACL tears in the USA; 56,000 occur during sports.” Wow.

I can tell you, prior to my tear I certainly wasn’t thinking of prevention at all.

“ACL?” I asked.

“Yup,” he said, looking at my knee brace. Then he gave me a high-five.

“How long since you had the surgery?” I inquired?

“December,” he said.

This dude had been playing ultimate frisbee all summer, after having the surgery in December. That means he started playing five months after the surgery.

WHAT A BAD IDEA.

Anyway, one thing that has been busy all summer is the comments area, which I’m really pleased to see. For anyone interested in my ACL surgery recovery saga, check out the comments on my last post, which now contains an ongoing discussion. Although I wish the ordeal on no-one, it’s very interesting to meet and talk to people who’ve had similar experiences to mine – or some that are completely different.

I tried golfing three weeks after having my ACL reconstructed, with painful results. But 10 weeks after the surgery, it was all good.

On his site, Woods said “it is clear the right thing to do is listen to my doctors, follow through with this surgery, and focus my attention on rehabilitating my knee.”

Once temperatures reach this area I start to to realize just how far away I am from snowboarding again; five months or so, really. And that sucks.

So, what to do in the meantime?

If you’re me, your summer will look like this:

• Running: After my ACL surgery I packed on a good 10 pounds I never lost. I hit 170 pounds and I’m only 5″8; not ideal.This summer, I vowed to lose this weight. Because I didn’t want to compromise my regular regiment of weekend beer drinking and eating food not cooked at home, though, I had to finally admit I needed to exercise like hell if I was to lose any weight. Net result: getting up at 5:45 every morning to run 6k. But it’s working: I’m down five pounds the past couple of weeks.
• Roller hockey and ultimate frisbee: Mondays and Sundays, respectively. Hockey is surprisingly easy on the knee; ultimate is a little harder.
• Softball: The least competitive kind, though, so it’s not much of a workout. But it helps pass the summer.
• Golf: Did you know Toronto has more golf courses per capita than any other city in North America? I didn’t, but it makes getting a tee time somewhere easy.

If you’re not me, I’d highly recommend doing a few of these things to pass the time:

• Snowboarding: That’s right. Keep riding! Hit the Blackcomb Glacier, which opens this month, or visit South America.
• Wakeboarding: What all the cool rich kids do all summer.
• Windsurfing: I actually wouldn’t mind trying this, but it seems like getting up for the first time is a royal pain in the ass.
• Yearn for winter: I’m sure we’ll all be doing this sooner than later. In the meantime, enjoy the sun.