Episode 252 | AnnKNEEversary – It Takes A Village

What is up y’all? And welcome back to another episode on the ACL Athlete Podcast. Today is the annKNEEversary podcast episode. I do this annually now. For those of you who are like, what is this episode title? What does this mean? AnnKNEEversary is the cheesy way of saying, it’s the anniversary of your ACL knee surgery.

I had my second ACL surgery Thanksgiving week. I always remember it at the same time each year. I’m always reminded because a photo of me always pops up this week at Thanksgiving. I actually just saw it randomly on Facebook, which was now 12 years ago. Which makes me feel really old because I had another ACL injury that was long before that, so that’s pretty crazy. But that was my second ACL surgery. It was our last home game. I went to the University of Georgia. This was my senior year as an undergrad. It was a night game. It was a big deal, being a UGA fan. I couldn’t go because I had to have my ACL surgery because of the timing of Thanksgiving and going home, and navigating classes, I could have some downtime. I had to watch it on the couch while all of my friends got to go to the game. I know that sounds like such a first-world problem thing, but at the time, I was really bummed about it. 

I’m sure many of you listening, you’ve had your moments where you have had to just give something up that this ACL injury has impacted from a schedule standpoint or a life experience standpoint. Whether it’s like a game that you can’t play in a season, something that was on the line that you were counting on. Maybe it was a scholarship. Maybe it was the trip of your life. We worked with so many people who were like, I had this trip planned a year ago, and then this happened, and it got derailed.

There are so many things that this injury can impact. For me, this is always one that I reflect back on because I was in such a unique part and time in my life of being a senior, thinking about next steps of what I’m going to do. And this ACL injury came out of nowhere, very unexpected in this situation. And it really influenced the trajectory of what was going to happen next. 

Before we dive into the theme here today, I just want to say, first off, thank you for this platform. And this is usually an episode for me to be super thankful and reflect. The few things that I want to share here is just a thank you to all the listeners, the messages, the emails—everything. I read them, I reply to them. I can’t say that I’m always prompt on them, but at the same time, I promise you I will get around to everyone. I read them all, and I save them all, and I will reply back to you, I promise. But this is something that I appreciate so much. We have achieved together 288,000 downloads and counting, which is just absolutely insane; 158 countries and territories together; 9,200 different cities. This is just crazy to me. They think that this was just an idea for me to start, and to just speak about ACL things, and to just put concise thoughts together. Some of you may question whether it’s concise or not. But trying to share what I can on this platform to make sure we can all come together as a community, so you can feel educated. You can hear from someone who has gone through this, who lives in this world. I just am absolutely obsessed with it. 

As you guys know, if I’m 252 weeks in, I have not missed a single week. And I’m not doing this for some sort of payment or anything like that. I don’t even run ads on here or anything. And it’s because I just want this to be a straightforward platform. I don’t want it to be something that is just trying to pull money in, or revenue, or whatever it is. I just want it to be a pure value add to your life. That way, you can just hear it from someone who’s been through it, who knows this world, and who stays up-to-date on it. I don’t focus on anything else, y’all. This is all that I do in the ACL world. I just want to say thank you for being here, for listening, and for being a part of this journey because you guys have all been on this journey together.

What is the theme? First, I do want to talk very briefly about last year’s annkneeversary theme, which was the “Little Moments.” If you were here for that, I appreciate y’all. You guys are the real ones who have stuck with this. And even if you’re new, welcome. But we’re going to talk about the little moments here for a second, and embracing them because that’s what life is. It’s composed of the little moments, and honestly, that’s what the ACL process is.

Yes, we have the big milestones. You might start running again, or you might be able to start jumping again. You might be able to do a revolution around the bike. You might be able to get your knee straight. But in reality, those are momentary, bigger milestones. What this process is built up to be is small moments (little moments) that are built up and compounded over time. Stuff that people don’t necessarily see is all the work that you put in. It’s something that is the accumulation of these little wins in these moments every day.

My wife and I tried to talk about this time last year, and we’re trying to figure out a way to slow things down. We had a kid who was under the age of one. We were just trying to figure out how we can embrace these little moments every day, because that’s just the type of people we are, and the thing that I think really is life—little moments. If you did tune in last year, what we were doing was trying to do sticky notes each night for our little moments each day, me and my wife, at the end of the day, we would take a sticky note. We would write what our little moment was, and we’d stick it up on the mirror, and we’d see it every day. We’d be reminded of it. We’d held each other accountable, and we’d continued that this year. It’s fair to say that there have been a lot of sticky notes. 

A lot of little moments to celebrate, which have been really awesome to see and reflect on. Some that are just honestly really simple ones. It’s not this grand thing that happened. It could be just like this very simple moment of just saying, I love you to each other, or a hug, or my son saying dad for the first time. That’s probably a big moment. But with that said, there are the simple ones, but then there are also the big milestone-type moments. Those are the things that we try to work on over this past year, and that was the theme of last year. 

I encourage you guys to essentially work on some gratitude that is beneficial to you. It could be something like doing the sticky note and trying it for a week. I think that it is something that is so helpful and allows you to just appreciate these moments. I think from an ACLer standpoint, it could even just be literally opening up a notes tab on your phone and being able to just highlight one small win for the day. And as much as people might say, there’s no win at all. I promise you there’s some sort of win that you can find within your day, and just do it for seven days. Notice how much that might even allow you to have a bit more momentum in what you’re feeling. Even if you feel like you might be in a setback. Maybe it’s not as painful today. Maybe it’s four instead of five today. Maybe it’s a little less sharp. Maybe you could have done the stairs a little better. You took the stairs instead of the elevator. There’s so many different things that you can look at that aren’t necessarily this big jump that you can reflect on and hopefully check up as a win. And that’s a little moment that you can count on.

Now, if you haven’t tuned out yet, you may be wondering what this year’s theme is. I’ll get straight to it. But before, to be honest, I haven’t had as much time to reflect and think as much as I have in the years past because now I have a 20-month-old toddler who is also the most tender human and also a gremlin at the same time. It’s amazing, but it’s also time-consuming. My life has changed drastically in these past 20 months because now we have a human to be responsible for. We now have a second kid that is due literally any day now. This podcast is super fresh coming into Thanksgiving week. This is something that you could say, it is feeling a bit busy, and I know it’ll be a little busier for us here comes soon. But at the same time, we’re welcoming it. We’re so excited because the positives outweigh the negatives by far, and we love it. But I will say time is a lot less, if that’s for sure. But amidst all that, I did try to take some time to think, and I was thinking about this past year as a whole.

In general, the world has felt more fast-paced. I’m sure the kid can influence that. So that might be a little bit of my own anecdote there. But I feel like talking to friends and family and people that it just feels that way. And also the world feels, I don’t know what’s the best way to say it. It feels just a little messy. And maybe that’s not the right way to say it, but it’s just a general feel, whether it’s about the political climate, whether it’s economic uncertainty, these sound like such grown-up things to say—social media, AI, entering the front and center of the world. I’m honestly not 100% sure what it is. But it just feels like there’s these divides, and there could be some more isolation between them. I think now more than ever, people are looking for community; they’re looking for connection. It’s easy to just isolate, especially with technology now, and to just hermit into your little hole. But in reality, I think we need that human connection and community. And that’s honestly what has made me think about this past year. While I did share some of those things, I think there’s a lot of positives in it, and I think that’s the thing that we have to look for. 

What I’m thankful for, especially, are the people and my humans and the community around me. It has helped me up to where I am today. The company itself, my family, we have gone through a lot and a lot of changes and a lot of things that have really tested the waters and really pushed some boundaries in the sense of a lot of challenges. And the thing is that if I tackled it alone, I don’t know that I would’ve necessarily gotten through them. But when I think about my people and those around me, that is the thing that really helps to get me through this. When I think about these people, I just want to share a little bit of my personal life, my wife, my son, my brother, my parents, and all of my family members, my extended family, my in-laws. They’ve shown up when I needed something. 

This year has been obviously very stressful with having a toddler now and then running a business, having a major procedure on my hip, and my wife being pregnant for the majority of this year. It has stretched us a good bit. And also just building a team and trying to build this company that takes a lot of effort, and it’s not just something that I can just sit back and let it go. It is something that I work really hard for and invest in, and am very present with. It’s just something that I’m so thankful for these humans who have been here for that. My friends who also have families are still actively meeting me halfway in our friendships. I think there’s so much value for when we get busy, and yeah, sure, we’re not perfect all the time. But it’s just something that I think there’s a lot of value in those friendships whenever they do put in the effort, and you’re meeting each other halfway. 

And then to share about my hip surgery that took place in March, and we’re almost eight months into it. It’s been a while, but it has not been an easy overall process from the start. It was a very major procedure. For those of you who don’t know, I had a hip resurfacing, which is basically a total joint replacement. A little bit of a modified approach for my left hip because of some arthritis that has progressed and limited me for years and years. I had done it in March. 

One of the hardest things we had just found out we were actually pregnant with our second kid, which is just crazy. And I’ve had to do this procedure at such a young age compared to 99% of people who will never, ever experience this. This feeling of the hip or the procedure itself. It is just something that has been unique to me and very crazy, but it’s something that I’m very thankful for that I got done this year. I’m very thankful for my remote coach, Jason, who’s been with me since pre-hip surgery and who I’m still working with currently. I’m eight months in. He’s still the one who’s guiding me, helping me day to day. Because, as I also communicated to you guys, having your own ACL rehab and doing it yourself, I don’t recommend it for anyone. I don’t care who you are. In the same sense, I could have done my own hip prehab. I just don’t think that is something that you want to leave to yourself. I think of it as building a house. I don’t want to build a house. I don’t know how to build a house. At the same time, I know how to fix some things. But that doesn’t mean I can build a house together. And the same thing with the knee or the hip or whatever it is, especially for something super major. You want to make sure you have someone who knows how to build a house and is an expert in it. 

The other thing that I want to share is just having incredible medical providers this year for my wife, and just a team to get through the second pregnancy. When we were trying to get pregnant for the first time, it was a nightmare finding good medical providers; my wife experienced such negative conversations around her ability to have kids. I’m just so thankful for our medical team to be able to help us in terms of the second pregnancy and just knowing that we have these people in our corner.

To flip to the professional side of my team, the ACL Athlete team, our coaches, the lead coach, the everyone who is on our team, I’m so thankful for all these people who have served hundreds and hundreds of ACLers and who have helped me in mentoring other clinicians and coaches. We can continue to redefine how ACL rehab is done, and that is something that is so meaningful as a philosophy, as a mission, as a vision for this company to impact this field, so we can make things better for you guys. The ones who are listening, the ones who are experiencing our care, are the ones we are able to mentor. We are trying to do everything we can. If you guys are listening, I appreciate you so much. Thank you for just being a part of this team. And to our remote and in-person athletes who have trusted us here at the ACL Athletes to give them a fighting chance when they’ve seen three providers, five providers, 10 providers, and no one can give them any answers, I just appreciate that people lean in and trust us and be able to work with them and to get back to what they love and we do not take it for granted. 

And the last thing I want to be thankful for, I promise there’s something to carry over on this, y’all just hold on. I just want to say thank you to you guys who are listening and a part of this community. The time you spend here listening to me, complaining, rambling about things, going on tangents, and getting fired off, like I just am, so appreciative of that. And the messages that I receive, I know it takes time to do that, it takes energy, it takes effort. You don’t have to do that. And it just means the world to me.

I’m just going to share one that I literally got a few days ago, and it was one from a mom. Just want to send you a quick update. We found a local PT who has been amazing over the past weekend. Side note, I made some recommendations to some areas of people, and they were able to find a PT, which was awesome. It’s exactly what her son needed. Truly personalized care with the goals in mind and challenges in mind by a PT who understands the experience, and to guide this athlete through the later stages. I want to thank you for all the fantastic pointers you have given to us in the podcast. I don’t think, without listening to you, I would’ve even remotely felt the same understanding of the difficulty of this recovery and what it takes to be successful. Checking on this athlete’s progress against the insights I gained from your podcast made me question if we were on the right track. Looking back, I am so glad that I did, even though we never met you in person. You for sure made a difference in the athlete’s name recovery and his life thereafter. Thank you so much.

This is the stuff y’all. This is why we do it. It’s to make sure that we don’t settle for subpar care. This ACL itself has a high reinjury rate. It’s something that we just want to make sure every person, no matter where you are, where you live, what you do, what age you are, what sport you play, what activity you do, you deserve the best care. The thing is that before it was something that could be limited, but now with technology and where we are today, it can be done wherever you are. This is something that is going to be really important because it’s a very important experience to make sure you have the guidance that you need. It is something that getting messages like this means the absolute world because it’s something that lets us know. Let’s keep going. Let’s keep fighting. Let’s keep trying to change this narrative around this injury and to help people get back to what they want to do.

Overall, how does this relate to you, the ACLer? First, like just knowing it takes a village to get through this process. We can’t shoulder it all, and we shouldn’t. As I shared, there are a lot of DIY do-it-yourself-type ACLers who try to figure it out. And to be honest, it shouldn’t be. It’s so much to take over. I know so many physical therapists who can’t even get through this entire process because they’ve just never been educated, and they’ve never really worked with people through this. We get a physical therapy background, so we at least understand the human body. Now, do we understand ACL rehab? No, we don’t learn that very much in school. 

But with that said, we understand the human body. There’s still challenges that physical therapists deal with. For someone who isn’t educated in this world, it makes it even harder to be able to be like, okay, let’s see what we need to tackle. How do we fix this problem? I just really do recommend not trying to shoulder at all, and that’s where it’s super important about our village. 

What are the action items from this? Really is to say thank you to your humans and your community. The people who are your team, who are in your corner, and that goes for your medical team. For the people who are there with you from day one, post-injury, post-surgery, listening to your ups and downs, who heard you whenever the knee set back, who were there to help you get in the car whenever you were on crutches, and who had been there seeing you put in the work. Maybe it’s a parent, significant other, a sibling, a friend, a teammate, maybe it’s a combination. I know I wouldn’t be where I am without my people and them helping me get through this year, previous years, and especially my two ACLs and so much more, y’all. And my hip surgery from this past year has just been a crazy, wild experience, just going through this process, and even how it was post-op with being able to manage that. I wouldn’t be able to do a lot of this stuff without the people around me. 

The last thing I want to share here is that you can always change your team, or who’s on your team. Often, people let years or history impact their decisions and whether there’s value in the relationship. Now, this is pretty loaded with friends and family. Obviously, there’s layers to it. There are people who will be in our lives for seasons, especially, let’s say, friends, for example. If it’s something that’s putting like negative energy into your life or you feel like it’s just not productive, then maybe it’s a mute, or maybe it is distancing, or maybe it is slowly fading away. And that’s just something to evaluate. As I’ve gotten older, instead of keeping a big wide circle, it’s keeping my circle smaller and just making sure the people who I have in it are the ones who are pouring into me and that I can lean on when I need them. But especially with your ACL care, please just don’t settle if you feel in your gut that you need more help and guidance. And that’s what’s really important here is that you can always make a change, and this is something that you want to just make sure you take the right steps on. There’s plenty of people in this world who exist in the world, in-person, remotely, to be able to provide what you need. I think that the most important thing here is, don’t let history—I’ve been with this PT or this surgeon for X number of years, I can’t switch now. They know all my history. But it just depends on what the value and the quality you’re getting. You just don’t know what you don’t know. And when you actually find someone who actually cares and who knows it and who’s an expert, your life’s going to change. I promise. 

I talked to somebody today. They’ve been doing hour-long workouts on most days on their own, and then they’ve been doing 20-plus exercises every day on top of that. And the PTs are not listening to them about the feedback. They’re not doing any weighted stuff, and it’s crazy. The athlete’s almost eight months out. And I just talked to them today, and it was just mind-blowing—I need some help. I don’t know what to do. My knee’s still dealing with these issues. I don’t feel like I’m making any progress. We talk through all this stuff, and it’s just crazy. I think with technology and just thinking about, even for us, like we have athletes from every continent working with us, outside of Antarctica, of course. But it’s possible to find good care y’all. Don’t settle. I would say find the person who knows this stuff, who does it well, whether it is the remote option or whether it’s something in-person, local to you. It might be something that stretches you. But I would rather you work really hard for three to six months, for example, versus being in this same place because you just didn’t change this time next year. When that suck, you hit in November of 2026 or whatever time you’re listening to this episode, fast forward one year from now. Wouldn’t it suck to just be there? So that is why I want to nudge you into making sure that your team and your community and the people around you are the right people to be with you. Translating this specifically to ACL rehab,  this is just something that I’ve really wanted to share with y’all today because it was on my heart. Being so thankful for my humans and also wanting to make sure you’re getting all the best and positive input into your own life and into your ACL rehab. Maybe you needed to hear this because you feel stuck or need something to get the momentum back. 

I hope that this is helpful for that. Go hug your people. Get rid of the people who aren’t putting positive vibes into your life, who aren’t helping you move the needle to be a better person. Be a better athlete. Life is too short. Don’t wait, do the thing. Happy Thanksgiving. Cheers! Until next time, this is your host, Ravi Patel, signing off.