SEGMENT AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION For the periods ended September 29, 2018 and September 30, 2017 , we reported our business in four operating segments: Bracing and Vascular; Recovery Sciences; Surgical Implant and International. Bracing and Vascular Segment Our Bracing and Vascular segment, which generates its revenues in the United States, offers our rigid knee bracing products, orthopedic soft goods, cold therapy products, vascular systems, therapeutic shoes and inserts and compression therapy products, primarily under the DonJoy, ProCare, Aircast, Dr. Comfort, Bell-Horn and Exos brands. This segment also includes our OfficeCare channel, through which we maintain an inventory of soft goods and other products at healthcare facilities, primarily orthopedic practices, for immediate distribution to patients. The Bracing and Vascular segment primarily sells its products to orthopedic and sports medicine professionals, hospitals, podiatry practices, orthotic and prosthetic centers, home medical equipment providers and independent pharmacies. In 2014, we expanded our consumer channel to focus on marketing, selling and distributing our products, including bracing and vascular products, to professional and consumer retail customers and on-line. The bracing and vascular products sold through the channel will principally be sold under the DonJoy Performance, Bell-Horn and Dr. Comfort brands. Recovery Sciences Segment Our Recovery Sciences segment, which generates its revenues in the United States, is divided into three main channels:  CMF . Our CMF channel sells our bone growth stimulation products. We sell these products either directly to patients or to independent distributors. For products sold to patients, we arrange billing to the patients and their third party payors.  Chattanooga . Our Chattanooga channel offers products in the clinical rehabilitation market in the category of clinical electrotherapy devices, clinical traction devices, and other clinical products and supplies such as treatment tables, CPM devices and dry heat therapy.  Consumer . Our consumer channel offers professional and consumer retail customers our Compex electrostimulation device, which is used in training programs to aid muscle development and to accelerate muscle recovery after training sessions. Surgical Implant Segment Our Surgical Implant segment, which generates its revenues in the United States, develops, manufactures and markets a wide variety of knee, hip, shoulder and elbow implant products that serve the orthopedic reconstructive joint implant market. International Segment Our International segment, which generates most of its revenues in Europe, sells all of our products and certain third party products through a combination of direct sales representatives and independent distributors. Information regarding our reportable business segments is presented below (in thousands). Segment results exclude the impact of amortization and impairment of goodwill and intangible assets, certain general corporate expenses, and charges related to various integration activities, as defined by management. The accounting policies of the reportable segments are the same as the accounting policies of the Company. We allocate resources and evaluate the performance of segments based on net sales, gross profit, operating income and other non-GAAP measures, as defined in our Credit Facilities. We do not allocate assets to reportable segments because a significant portion of our assets are shared by the segments. Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended September 29, 2018 September 30, 2017 September 29, 2018 September 30, 2017 Net sales: Bracing and Vascular $ 126,627 $ 127,971 $ 367,627 $ 376,439 Recovery Sciences 35,812 39,346 109,159 116,622 Surgical Implant 53,401 46,613 160,938 146,197 International 78,211 76,946 253,793 234,753 $ 294,051 $ 290,876 $ 891,517 $ 874,011 Operating income: Bracing and Vascular $ 29,180 $ 27,060 $ 78,436 $ 72,292 Recovery Sciences 11,400 11,322 29,649 30,938 Surgical Implant 11,074 9,126 34,005 27,328 International 16,742 14,894 55,592 42,013 Expenses not allocated to segments and eliminations (48,515 ) (40,633 ) (108,536 ) (135,085 ) $ 19,881 $ 21,769 $ 89,146 $ 37,486 Geographic Area Following are our net sales by geographic area (in thousands): Three Months Ended Nine Months Ended September 29, 2018 September 30, 2017 September 29, 2018 September 30, 2017 Net sales: United States $ 215,840 $ 213,930 $ 637,724 $ 639,258 Other Europe, Middle East and Africa 38,464 36,047 126,861 112,388 Germany 19,973 19,926 68,824 61,957 Australia and Asia Pacific 11,388 12,130 34,247 34,894 Canada 6,405 6,667 18,867 19,027 Latin America 1,981 2,176 4,994 6,487 $ 294,051 $ 290,876 $ 891,517 $ 874,011