This is the second in a weekly series on the progression of injured running back Lee Suggs' road to recovery. The redshirt junior from Roanoke injured his left knee against Connecticut on Sept. 1 and is lost for the year. This week's update comes courtesy of Jimmy Robertson, editor of hokiesports.com-the newspaper. Check back here each week for updates from head athletic trainer Mike Goforth, his physical therapist and others on TD Lee's progression.

October 5, 2001

Shortly after undergoing surgery on his left knee to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a medial meniscus, injured tailback Lee Suggs started his rehab program, which includes wearing a computerized knee brace to help him with his exercises.

The brace - made by a company called DonJoy - actually comes with a tiny monitor, which plugs into the brace using a wire connection. Suggs starts up the program for his rehab and then presses 'Enter.' He begins a series of drills, such as quad sets, range of motion drills exercises, leg raises, etc. - all with varying degrees of difficulty. The monitor guides the patient through each exercise, provides visual biofeedback and records exercise data, including the number of reps for each exercise and the range of motion in the knee for various exercises.

The program takes about 30 minutes and Suggs does this twice a day. The brace itself controls where the knee goes and protects Suggs from re-injuring his knee while doing the exercises. However, if Suggs feels pains, he can quit out of the program.

"It's a part of what we call home compliance," Tech head trainer Mike Goforth said. "This is a program that he can do at home separate from his physical therapy sessions and his rehab time in the training room.

"And he can't cheat on it - not that we'd ever have to worry about that with Lee. But we can take the monitor and plug it into a computer and the computer gives us a printout of all the information. That helps us determine what we need to do as far as his rehab."

The brace has been in existence for less than six months. Goforth found out about the brace at a trainer's convention sponsored by DonJoy this summer, and with the help of former student trainer Aaron Gresham, who works at a physical therapy clinic in Blacksburg, he secured one.

"That [the convention] is one of the best things I go to," Goforth said. "DonJoy gets together with a bunch of Division I-A trainers and shows them new products. They give you a bunch of case studies. Not just on knee injuries, but on everything. I'm a big supporter of what they do."

As for Suggs, he continues to progress well. He spends three mornings a week with a physical therapist and then three afternoons a week in Goforth's training room. He also spends one morning a week with the sports psychology group, simply talking about dealing with difficult injuries.

"He's doing very well," Goforth said. "We're getting ready to take him out of the brace and we're going to start increasing the intensity of his exercises. But he's walking fine and progressing well."

12/1 - Miami
Blacksburg, Va.
Injured