New Brace!

It may be a week late, but I finally received my "functional" brace today. I can now walk w/o the straight-leg gait that I had with the immobilizer brace. Also, I can go up stairs a heck of a lot faster now. Last, but certainly not least, I can finally drive w/o fear of screwing up my new ligaments.

Many thanks to Mom, Alisa and Lawrence, all of whom have chauffeured me around for the past month.



The thing is big, but very light. I barely notice it when I'm wearing it, except the bit of pressure on the sides of my knee from the hinges. I'll be wearing this thing for the next 4-6 months, and then every time I do anything seriously sporting for probably the rest of my life. Believe me, after crutches and that damned immobilizer, I can certainly live with this thing.

Oh, and I'm also 4 weeks post surgery today. As you can see the swelling is still there, but it's definitely reduced. The various scars are healing well, and are barely visible. Pain-wise I'm not really feeling any except when I'm trying to get those last 10-degrees of flexion during physical therapy.




Here's the brace under my pants. You can see the bulge from all of the straps below my knee, but it's still pretty discrete. I've not attempted to put jeans on yet, but I have a feeling that I won't be able to get them over the brace. Ah well, I may just have to dress a bit more formally for a while...

Update: Hey, I can wear jeans with the brace.

Update: No, I am not naked in those first two pictures.