Sports is the go to place , not just for the professional athletes but even for the amateurs and all those who just want to go there , be with their friends, play a game of badminton, table tennis, cricket, soccer , tennis , etc once or twice a week. It is a great way to have fun, get that little bit of weekly physical activity and above all a stress buster experience.

It is only when you miss the game for couple of weeks, you will start feeling the difference. After a two week holiday or work trip, one of the main things to look upto is this cohort. The place where you can meet friends, share some jokes, kick some balls 🙂

Sports is the best form of medicine to keep yourself fit and stress free. So when you get injured and have to stay away from this weekly activity for 6-9 months then it starts impacting you slowly and steadily. It is a horrible feeling to not being able to do things that you really look forward to every week. It is all about the Social factor.

Again, lot depends on the individual as well. There are strong hearted people who sail through this without much issues while others have a tough time. While some will be more concerned about the time of recovery and whether the treatment is right, others are lamenting about missing out from their weekly sports meetings.

Conor Motyer, Co founder and CEO of Brace shared his startup journey on PAC Talks.

“I had suffered a serious knee dislocation in a hockey match that resulted in the surrounding ligaments, tendons and muscles being torn, and severe damage to the nerves down my leg, which ultimately left me without movement in my foot.”

The recovery journey was slow and steady for Conor. After almost one year, he was in a position to run. Conor shared this great milestone of his recovery journey on his instagram. The response from his friends and acquaintances was overwhelming. This was the turning point and ignition for Brace.

Conor realised that there are lot of people who are impacted with similar turn of events and have to struggle all by themselves during the course of recovery. There was a requirement for bring together these people at one place , so that they can share the experiences, support and motivate each other.

Brace: Social injury rehab was thus born , a social platform for the injured people.

By using the Brace App, users can track and manage exercise plan to achieve recovery goals, document the recovery progress and be part of a community where you connect with others for recovery insights and community motivation. The app is available on iOS and Android.

Brace is still in its nascent stage and Conor mentioned that this is just the start of the App. The platform was launched in 2021. The start-up was formerly based from Nova UCD (a hub for new ventures and entrepreneurs at University College Dublin) before joining the New Frontiers program. They are part of the New Frontiers Program for early stage start-ups and have successfully moved on to Phase 3 of the program.

He added that there is a lot of work going on and hopeful about scaling the platform. I personally liked the blog posts in Brace which also captures stories of athletes as well. Conor has captured his journey in detail in one of his blogs.

The recent addition to the Brace app is the inclusion of physiotherapists. So now the platform can be used by professionals who help people recover from their injury as well.

Brace has tied up with brands like Recovery Systems, PlayMakar, Vivomed, in the recovery space and also with activewear brand Gym+Coffee.

Conor and Brace are yet another addition to the fast growing start-ups from Ireland. Brace has got a great potential. Conor has put together a good platform and it is all about scaling it in the right direction at the right time.

Hope that no sports person have to go through an injury and recovery process. But during unfortunate times, social community like Brace can definitely step in and make that process to be less agonising for the individual.

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You can read more about Brace here