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The foot pain New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees experienced Monday was likely to be sudden and excruciating, according to a doctor that specializes in such injuries. And the pain in many cases will intensify with the first step out of bed in the morning.

But Brees' injury could have started well before the moment he pivoted to escape the rush from Detroit Lions defensive end Ezekiel Ansah.

"This is not an injury that happens overnight," said Dr. Rock Positano, director of the nonoperative foot and ankle service at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. "It will reach a certain threshold where the plantar fascia becomes very painful and very swollen. That's when the person feels that very bad pain."




Or, in the case of a professional athlete such as Brees, when a sudden movement can cause the tear of an already weakened foot ligament.

Brees showed no sign of the right foot injury before he pivoted to get away from Ansah and then limped off the field after his third-down pass landed incomplete.

"What happens in a plantar fascia injury is you often feel a sudden burst, like a knife going through your foot," Positano said. "It's one of the more unpleasant, uncomfortable problems that an athlete or another person can experience.

"It's very rare for a person just to completely snap their plantar fascia, or even get a tear right away."

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