"I never thought myself to be injury prone, until the last two years," Lower told the Adelaide Advertiser's Rebekah Devlin.
He isn't one to throw in the towel though, and despite his contract being out at the end of the year it gives him all the more reason to get back and prove himself.
"It's pretty frustrating at times, but it's something you have to deal with."
"I'm a pretty realistic person. I know its do or die, I guess, for me. I've got to make sure I'm playing footy. I was hoping this year would be that year I'd have an impact and hopefully get through the whole year, but, unfortunately, that hasn't been the case," he says.
A broken leg at the beginning of last year, then a broken collarbone in round 18 meant the 23 year-old midfielder only managed eight games for the Kangaroos in 2010.
Lower returned to be a strong performer during the club's high-altitude camp in Utah, but had surgery to clean up stray cartilage in his knee in December.
"The funny thing is the longer you're out, the more excited you get about your footy, so I'm more excited than ever."
Lower’s family have played an integral part in his recovery with his parents David, a doctor, and Angela, a nurse only too willing to offer their support during the challenging times. He was even allowed to travel back home to Adelaide to undergo his surgery.
"I've been waited on hand and foot by mum and dad which was nice," he said..
"Dad's always in contact with the doctors, physios and surgeons here. He's all over it."
Ed isn’t the only Lower who has had his share of bad luck in AFL football. Twin brother Nick was delisted by Port Adelaide at the end of the 2009 season and spent the next year working hard in the SANFL for Norwood before being granted a lifeline by Fremantle via the rookie draft.
"When it gets tough you've got to stick at it. We've been taught that ever since we were little."
An exciting moment for the Melbourne-based brother was watching Nick kick the match winning goal for Fremantle against the Western Bulldogs in round five at Patersons Stadium.
"I was about to go to bed at three quarter time.
"I found myself jumping up off my chair when he was kicking that goal, I couldn't believe how excited I was. I love watching Nick play, especially this year, I've kind of lived my footy through him, I guess."
A few jokes have been made among the Kangaroos' playing group about getting his brother to Aegis Park to pull on the royal blue and white in the number 2's absence.
"Nick's a left footer, I'm right.... it'd be nice if he could sneak over here and pull on my jumper - it hasn't been used for a while.
"We are really close. We probably don't admit it, but we do speak every day and try to help each other however we can."
Amazingly, the talented twin brothers have never played a game against each other, despite Ed's tally of 42 games for North and Nick's 24 at the Power and then the Dockers.
"The footy gods don't want us to."
Ed is hopeful they'll meet in round 22 though when the Kangaroos take on Nick's Fremantle at Etihad Stadium.
Until then though, he's just focussing on swapping rehabilitation for a run with the main training group in the coming weeks.
