Ditching the knee sleeve and playing too much

Over the past 7 days I've played Ultimate: 1 hour on Monday, 1 hour on Thursday, 3 hours on Saturday, 1.5 hours on Sunday and I'll be playing 1 hour tonight. I told myself not to do this, but when someone asks "Can you sub for Ultimate", I just can't say no. However, while playing, I'm fairly conservative. I'm barely breaking a sweat by the end of the game (although my legs do feel a bit tired). I'm still cautious when changing direction and going for a long sprint. It seems when whoever I'm guarding goes deep, I don't keep up. This wasn't the case before the injury, so over the next 2 months this is my goal: Do a full field length sprint and keep up with who I'm guarding.

I've also ditched the knee sleeve as it wouldn't protect me from tearing anything and it makes me aware of my weaker leg. Right now, treating my surgical leg different than my good leg is a bad idea as according to this study, I'm about 3 times as likely to tear my good leg than bad. (2.8% vs 1%). That study also showed there's no difference in re-injury if you return to sports at 5 months vs 9 months (assuming patellar tendon graft was used). Also this study showed (and every other study I've read) there was no statistical difference in the outcome of acl reconstruction if you wear a brace or a sleeve.

I played against a guy yesterday who was recovering from his second acl surgery (he's torn both legs). Since I do not want to go through this process against, I'll be sticking with Personal Trainer 2 times a week until I'm treating both legs equal.

Last Saturday I had the unfortunate experience of seeing a girl go down while playing ultimate and hear the words "I was running and then I heard a pop". Hopefully not a full ACL tear but it still makes me cringe and feel sorry for her. On the bright side, at least I know from experience it's not the end of her sports career!

So my goals over the next month or two will be:

- Get both legs equal in strength and usage!
- Full field length sprint
- Don't play so much Ultimate (this will be a tough one!)

Turning 30 and playing Ultimate Frisbee

Today was my first Ultimate Frisbee game in 13 months. It also coincides with my 30th birthday which was a nice birthday present!

Overall the knee felt fine. No soreness or swelling. And although I played a pretty relaxed offensive game, on defense I played fairly hard. It felt great to play again! I wore a knee sleeve just to remind me not to do anything stupid. I feel like I'm still using my right leg more than my left, so hopefully more personal training will help solve this imbalance, or perhaps it's just a confidence thing and I just have to become more comfortable with it. Either way, it's Ultimate season for me!

Houston we have liftoff!

- Can I play sports?
- "Yes"

Oh, what a sweet sweet word.

I didn't know what to expect going in. I figured it was a coin toss 50/50 chance of being allowed to play. I put my cards and effort on the table and had to hope for the best. After a 2 hour wait to see a random doctor in the clinic, he gave me the good news and congratulated me for graduating the 6 month mark. Tested out the ACL and said I'm clear to play. No brace and no restrictions. Just go easy on it at first. Also, try and even out the 2 legs in terms of muscle size. Out of the blue, the massive headache I had all morning suddenly disappeared.

I'll be sticking with personal training 1-2 days a week until both my legs are equal and who knows, maybe I'll stick with a personal trainer forever. I figure the stronger my leg / core muscles are the less risk of re-injury or injuring the right leg. Lesson learned: don't tear your ACL.

Now, to find an ultimate team to sub for...

6 months Post Op

Yesterday was my 6 month mark since surgery. It's very hard to believe it's been so long since the surgery, but even longer since the injury. In 2 days I'll visit the surgeon for the go ahead for sports!

Over the past 2 weeks I've been in Ireland and about 7 out of the 10 days I did 30 minute rehab exercises in the morning. I also did lots of walking and hiking up cliffs:


Overall, the knee felt good. I had to do my regular quad stretches to get rid of the knee catching. One interesting event which gave me a lot of confidence in my knee was when me and my girl Alice were running around a cliff, going up and down the rocky terrain. At the end she mentioned how I didn't have reservations about running and jumping on the rocks. It was a defining moment that I didn't think about my knee and worry I'd re-injure it.

I feel like I'm ready to play sports again, now I just need the doc's permission!

2 Days Left!