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.

That said, snowboarding season is quickly approaching and I plan to be ready. I’ve been working out fairly consistently, trying to get my left quad back to where it was before. It’s still smaller than my right quad, and gets weaker a little faster; I think I’m going to encounter some reduced muscle stamina on the hills this season.

I intend to get my season underway in mid to late December, right before this year’s Tremblant trip. That will put me at about nine months post-surgery. It’s a little early, and I don’t think my surgeon would approve, but I’ve encountered several folks who were more or less fully back in action by then. I’ll probably take it easy for another month after that, until I head to Whistler.