Rating: (0 votes - average)

Drew Brees hid in plain sight.

As the New Orleans Saints stretched and went through position drills Thursday, the future Hall of Fame quarterback donned his red No. 9 jersey, warming up with the other three signal callers.

As quarterbacks Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill threw passes to receivers, Brees practiced handoffs and went through his progressions by himself.

He twiddled his thumb and caught balls with his left hand, then cradled them against his chest with his injured right hand. He even threw a ball left-handed.

Fifteen days after surgery, Brees is getting back to himself.



His progress isn't solely football-related. He's brushing and flossing his teeth with his right hand again, he told WWL’s Bobby Hebert on Wednesday, adding he's strong enough to grip a glass of water, too. Brees said to Zach Strief earlier this week that he’s already thrown a Nerf football at his surgeon.

“I'm not rushing back just for the sake of rushing back,” Brees told Hebert. “I'm trying to get back as quickly as I can, as healthy as I can and as effective as I can. So I'll evaluate that as I go along here.”

But Brees' speedy path to recovery isn’t unprecedented.

He owes his flossing capabilities to Arthrex’s miniscule medical device called InternalBrace. Originally developed in 2013 in Scotland to combat the ankle sprains of rugby and soccer players, the hand and wrist-specific FDA-cleared device launched in 2015.

The injury
Brees immediately knew his thumb wasn't right after his hand collided into that of Aaron Donald, the Rams defensive end and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Midway through the first quarter in Week 2, Donald rushed Brees from the right side and slammed into the quarterback’s hand just as he threw the ball toward tight end Jared Cook.

In that collision, Brees tore the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his right thumb, one of the two major ligaments supporting the thumb’s motion. The UCL is positioned on the inside of the thumb toward the index finger.



Due to this technology, Brees’ career is far from over.


more on NOLA

WillMacKenzie

Brees brushes teeth, still throws for 300 yards and 2 TD.

Beastmode

I'm optimistic but looks like a long healing process. For a truck driver no problem but a pro QB, not seeing how that is not a couple months. Hope I'm dead wrong.

It's hard to see with Teddy holding the ball so long but I can tell, way more velocity. If he stops doing that it will be clear the ball is getting there quicker even with a healthy Brees. Accuracy not great but good enough.

What is hurting Teddy the most though are drops. Josh and Jared are making him look bad. If they start catching the ball we could blow teams out.

AsylumGuido

First of all, a truck driver wouldn't be having this procedure done. It was developed as a quick and safe healing procedure for professional athletes. Here is a link to the case of a professional basketball player who had the exact same procedure done on his thumb. He was back playing in 37 days postsurgery and finished out the last 25 games of the regular season and 7 games of the postseason before his team was eliminated.

Repair of the Thumb Ulnar Collateral Ligament With Suture Tape Augmentation

"Under these circumstances, with structural support augmentation, the recovery and rehabilitation process can be expedited for patients to allow an earlier return to activities."

The whole point of this procedure is that it is an extremely fast recovery process that your average health insurance company wouldn't cover since there are far less expensive options, albeit much slower recovery times. I know how this works having spent 17.5 years working for one of those health insurance companies.

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill

Beastmode

Basketball is totally different. A player could play with a gimp thumb.

Good news is if Teddy keeps winning Brees can be eased back even if he is ready or very close.

K Major

Not really. Remember when Raptors guard Kyle Lowry injured his thumb in the playoff game last year vs Philly? Even though the injury happened on his non shooting hand, he was very ineffective in the finals.

AsylumGuido

Not true. A basketball player has to be able to grip the ball with either hand. The point is that Brees injury will be 100% healed with this procedure in less than five weeks postsurgery. This is a proven procedure that allows the patient to begin using the joint WHILE the healing process is underway. With most procedures you must wait until the healing process has finished before undergoing the rehab. With this process they can take place at the same time. That seems to be what you are missing.

Beastmode

A QB can't throw nearly as well as a BB player can shoot and guard without a functional thumb. Regardless, Brees is not returning in 37 days from the day he was injured. If he does we'll get crushed. It will be close to 8 weeks.

AsylumGuido

Not from the date of injury ... from the date of surgery. And you are declaring that you know more than a doctor? Dr. David Chao, @ProFootballDoc, said that Brees should be back at 100% in five weeks due to this procedure.

AsylumGuido

There's no reason to "ease" him back because he'll already be "easing" himself back during the healing process. That's the whole point of the internal brace. It allows the player the ability to go through the rehab process at the same time as the healing process. He will be 100% ready after five weeks. He will have already been throwing and can be practicing.

What part of this are you not understanding?