Hi there, I am Dr. Deepak, I work in Emergency Department, Where I see many of my patient with spine injuries. As you have mentioned your patient has a Fracture T2 vertebra while his head hit on the slope in pool. and he will be fitted with brace. Well the good thing is he has stable fracture of the vertebra. which I can say because he is been fitted with Brace. If it was supposed to be unstable then he would require surgery. Time line for healing of vertebra fracture is around 1-2 months. But you need to understand one important thing, Brace provides extra support to the spine in carrying load during the healing so that there is no further injury and healing process continues. The doctors will explain you how and when to wear brace, you need to follow their instruction exactly its told. You will be required to do physical therapy to strengthen your back muscles and vertebra. Your doctor will be in a better position to advice you regarding carrying book, playing golf, and driving after seeing your improvement on treatment. It can take 6 weeks before you are advised to carry heavy objects and 8-10 weeks for driving and Playing golf.