| One of our favorite Back Bay boys, Tom Brady, is on the sidelines with a torn ACL and MCL in his left knee.
While he reportedly is attending games and will likely undergo surgery next month, possibly at MGH, he faces six to nine months of recovery and rehabilitation. Otherwise, no one’s saying much on how he’s doing, so we called around town for ideas and what Brady will be doing to speed his recovery.
Michael Morris, a co-owner at Fitness Together on Newbury Street, also tore his ACL playing rugby. “It felt like I sprained my ankle, and at the same time, like someone stuck a knife in my knee and ran it down my entire leg,” he said.
Morris knows from experience how to bounce back from this kind of injury, and as Brady’s trainer, he would write a protocol for him once Brady had clearance from his doctor.
“Aside from obvious leg strengthening work, I would also improve the stability of his joint through a lot of balance work, combining balance and strength movements in one,” said Morris.
He’s included single-leg movements to improve the stability of Brady’s joint and redevelop neuromuscular efficiency to the muscles around the joint. “Whenever there is major trauma, you lose that neuromuscular efficiency to the joint,” said Morris.
That joint may need crutches to heal quickly. Over at Sullivan's Pharmacy in Roslindale, they can get some nice crutches that can fit a 6-foot-5 man like Brady.
“When I fit someone for crutches, especially someone that tall, I would make sure they stand up straight, and use whatever foot apparel they use,” said Sullivan’s Pharmacy owner Gregory Laham, who says crutch fittings are not as simple as it seems. “I’m 5 feet 5 inches,’ so I’d probably get a stepladder,” he joked.
He’d order crutch tops to minimize chafing and rubbing underneath Brady’s arms, and recommend an extra sleeve over the top. He could order Neoprene handgrips in Patriots’ red and blue, to avoid calluses or blisters. “Tips are vital,” said Laham. “Someone like him needs special-performance tips for better traction, and he’d need crutch shocks.”
Laham would also recommend crutch accessories, like bags that would hold water bottles and small books like playbooks. For snow and ice, he could get ice tips for added traction.
“Usually, that would be all, but if the customer is a man of means, I’d recommend telescoping crutches that fold up for easy travel.” These come in a Patriots-friendly silver color. Maybe Brady would like some reachers to pick up things out of reach, too. “If you fumbled anything, you could pick it up,” said Laham. “We have the tuck rule…”
For someone using crutches, that can do a number on the spine. Dr. Peter Hill, a chiropractor on Boylston Street, said once Brady gets his surgery and physical therapy, he could help in several areas.
“Sometimes, that kind of injury throws off your spine because it creates an imbalance,” said Dr. Hill. “If he uses a crutch, it may throw off his back, causing spinal subluxations. We adjust the spine to reduce the number of subluxations.”
Dr. Hill could also adjust Brady’s knees and would recommend water therapy and strengthening exercises. He’d also offer holistic healing, such as focusing on nutrition, emphasis on proper sleep, and maintaining a healthy mindset.
“He’ll be a little gun shy after this - it’s normal. But in order to be an athlete like Tom Brady, they have to have a nervous system and a mindset that is different than other persons. He may be able to bounce back more than others,” he said. Someone like Brady isn’t built like the average person – he just has great genes, said Dr. Hill. “I can play tennis as hard as I can and take lots of lessons, but I’ll never be John McEnroe. I’m not genetically wired like him.”
Still, Dr. Hill worried about Brady’s brain. “He may not jump into the pocket as fast as he used to. The brain gets an imprint and it does remember,” he said.
Dr. Hill would then recommend a sports psychologist.
Actually, Dr. Howard Katz, of New England Sports Psychiatry, is a rare sports psychiatrist, with years of experience not only watching the Pats, but also working with professional athletes who struggle with their injuries. He wouldn’t do any armchair quarterbacking on the actual state of Brady’s mind at the moment. However, he offered some theories on what someone of Brady’s caliber might be facing mentally.
“In a certain sense, he is at the top of his game … at the highest level of performance,” Katz said, pointing out that Brady is 31 years old, in a field that doesn’t see too many athletes in their 40s. “I don’t know how many years that can go on, nor does he. One hates to lose a year at any point in a professional athlete’s career.”
Will he lose his competitive edge as he sits on the sidelines? Probably not, said Dr. Katz. “The highest caliber athletes have reached that level particularly because they want to be in the center of things. In the most competitive moments, they’re saying, ‘I want the ball, I want the ball.’ Brady has to be that kind of guy, so it must be very hard for him to be on the sidelines.”
Professional athletes deal with injuries all the time, Katz said. “Injury is part of the game, maybe not this seriously, but professional quarterbacks have to be somewhat fearless. They have to have that built into ways to do their job, a long ago. I’m sure he has that well structured in his mind. It probably won’t change much when he gets back.”
As a trainer, Michael Morris sees athletes mentally nursing injuries all the time. “The first time you go to the cut, the first time you get hit, I wouldn’t be surprised if it pops into Brady’s brain, thinking about his injury,” said Morris.
Dr. Katz is confident that Brady is the kind of uberathlete who can rise above this sort of mental injury. “I think he’s going to come back very strong from this. He has to ... the qualities that make him an outstanding quarterback is his preparation, his level of understanding, his work ethic, a whole bunch of things that can’t be taken away from him,” he said.
Meanwhile, to athletes sidelined like Brady, Dr. Katz advises patience. “Pay attention to the broader range of things and people that are important to you, and maintain your involvement in the sport, whatever you can, given the limitations of injury. What Tom Brady does, day in and day out, is pay attention to a team’s defenses and pay attention to strategies. All of that is going to continue, I suspect, along with rehab.”
And shopping, too. We’re sure he won’t stop shopping. But at the end of a long day, he may have trouble fitting his Versace or Giorgio Armani slacks over his knee brace or sore leg. And when you’re injured, you want comfort. When he’s ready to wobble over to Niketown on Newbury Street, he can get some of the dry fit running pants that zip at the bottom. “It will allow Brady to slip them over his shoes, and he may have a mobile cast over his leg too,” said Ken Beardsley, store lead for Niketown. “He can use this casually and comfortably. It would be very lightweight and not inhibit his movement at all. Tom has a pretty good idea of what we offer, as does his girlfriend, Gisele.” Added Beardsley, “We wish him well and hope he recovers quickly and heals fast.”
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