Please note: This profile is made available for fellow participants on the knee-injury discussion forum Bob's ACL WWWBoard. Albeit none of the information revealed is considered confidential in nature, this profile is not intended for viewing by people external to this community.
Full Name: Michael Emil Frind
Home Address: 346 Marlowe Drive, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 5A4
Phone/fax: 519-885-4415 (landline), 519-572-6043 (cellphone)
Birthdate: June 10, 1972.
Birthplace: Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Physical: Height 6'0", weight 170 pounds. No family history of disease. No non-orthopedic health problems.
Languages: English, German, French, and a bit of Spanish.
Education: B.Sc. University of Waterloo (Earth Science and Environmental/Water Resources Engineering), with additional courses in health sciences, kinesiology, orthopedic biomechanics, orthotics and prosthetics, sports injuries, musculoskeletal anatomy, muscle physiology, and related topics. Also: Conestoga College, Environmental Engineering Applications post-degree programme.
Current occupation/status: Contract environmental consulting work, with an emphasis on detailed quantitative evaluations. I am also taking courses as a part-time graduate student. For the near future, and for purposes of furthering the development of my career to date, I intend to pursue a Master's degree in the environmental realm.
Goal: Master's degree in water-resources/environmental engineering or science. I prefer research-intensive technical work, ideally in the context of a not-for-profit organization such as a government agency. Given that my area of focus is environmental science, and given the obvious importance of fieldwork, I have always enjoyed work that spans the entire gamut from field (i.e. outdoors to gather data) to office (i.e. data analysis, simulation of scenarios, and report preparation).
Knee history (original injuries in 1997): Partly-torn left ACL due to twisting during cross-country skiing (caught snow-submerged sapling). Left MCL sprained during fall in stairwell; this sprain healed on its own. Both PCLs partly torn (about one-quarter of cross-sectional area) during car-dashboard impact injury on ledge underneath glove compartment. Right ACL later found to harbour partial tearing as well, likely incurred during the staircase incident in which the MCL was sprained. No meniscal tearing, although some meniscal roughness in left knee. Knees both harbour slight yet detectable laxity, although said laxity is not enough to impinge on the serviceability of my knees. (During participation in knee-demanding activities, I wear a custom-made CTi2 brace on each knee, for protection from side impacts and hyperextension. The bracing has repeatedly spared me the grief of near-certain full-ligament tearing, and thus has certainly proven its value. Although I have yet to have any knee surgery, I would not hesitate to undergo reconstruction in the event of completion of my existing partial cruciate-ligament tears.) Patellar tracking normal in both knees; normal quadriceps-pull angle. No knock-kneedness nor bow-leggedness. Maximum extension is (and has always been) about 10-15 degrees short of full straightness; knees acutely painful if attempts are made to force them beyond this limit. Gait normal, but I experience pain if I try to lock my knees for extended-term standing. No leg-length discrepancy observed. Off-the-shelf foam insoles worn in shoes.
Other injuries/health: No concussions. Eyesight normal. Hearing normal; sensitive to loud noises. Non-smoker, non-drinker. No food allergies. Allergic to latex and organochlorine compounds. I have problems breathing in settings with impaired air quality, and am more sensitive to particulates and VOCs than most people.
Surgeries: Hernia at birth. Bankhart repair of right shoulder on Tuesday, March 1/05, in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Removal of surgical-site cyst/abscess on Tuesday, September 28/05.
Comments regarding computer platforms and relevance to Kneeboard: The Kneeboard and Knee Library run on Unix-based Apache Web Server. The Knee Library coding is done entirely by hand in plain HTML, for maximum efficiency, serviceability, and predictability. No canned software-writing packages are used. This ensures compatibility with low-bandwidth connections and wireless devices. The Kneeboard forum itself runs on WebBBS, a Unix-based program which was hand-coded by software genius Darryl Burgdorf. WebBBS remains the most powerful, versatile, and efficient system of its type. The no-nonsense utilitarian appearance attests to its origins in the mid-1990s.
Interests: Environment, nature study, physical science, human health, chemistry, ecotoxicology, hydrogeology, climatology, astronomy, orthopedics, biomechanics. Occasional team sports. Also: classical music, electronics, computer software and hardware, automation and software-based control, gardening/horticulture, photography. Reading diverse topics, including history, science, and mathematics.
Sports: Hiking/backpacking, flatwater paddlesports (canoeing and occasional kayaking), cycling, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, swimming. Formerly involved extensively in figure skating and alpine skiing. I have played tennis, squash, flag football, and volleyball in the past. I occasionally still play soccer, basketball, ultimate frisbee, badminton, and sometimes ice hockey, all recreationally. (I avoid extreme sports because I am not interested in incurring extreme injury risks, and because I always remember that kinetic energy increases with speed squared.)
Activities on Bob's ACL WWWBoard: My involvement with Bob's Board dates back to 1997, when I incurred my first knee injury. I found there was so much to learn by perusing previous postings and following the discussion threads. I enjoy contributing to the discussions on the human body's most-vulnerable-to-severe-injury joint. Topics I enjoy researching range from general knee biomechanics to long-term consequences of knee injuries, as well as injury prevention. I like to give something back to a community that has helped me so much in the past. Additionally, I oversee the Knee Library (http://factotem.org/library), a continually growing resource which includes high-quality full-text, peer-reviewed medical-journal articles and other resources. I also consider the Knee Library as a convenient resource for discussions on the forum, and I like to make reference to the articles.
Profile document first filed: Tuesday, September 4, 2001.
Updated: Oct 19/01, Nov 24/01, Dec 26/01, Jan 1/02, Feb 3/02, Feb 15/02, Mar 3/02, Apr 2/02, Jul 12/02, Dec 15/02, Apr 4/03, May 7/03, Nov 20/03, May 2/04, Jul 11/04, Sep 19/04, Oct 23/04, Dec 5/04, Jan 7/05, Mar 9/05, Oct 29/05, Nov 9/05, Sep 29/06, Oct 5/06, Feb 4/07, May 12/07, Aug 09/07, Jan 08/08, Mar 25/08, Jun 30/08.
Personal Homepage: http://www.execulink.com/~frind/frindhomepage.html
