NEW ORLEANS — It's hard to believe a thumb injury could knock Saints Quarterback Drew Brees out of the line-up for at least 4 to 6 weeks.
But, that is the unfortunate truth.
The 40-year-old future Hall of Famer collided with Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald's hand on an incomplete pass to TE Jared Cook in the first quarter of Sunday's game in Los Angeles.
Brees is believed to have torn an Ulnar Collateral Ligament in his throwing hand.
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Orthopedic hand surgeon Dr. Eric George from the Hand Center of Louisiana explained there is no quick fix to this kind of injury.
"There's a ligament that stabilizes the inside of the thumb joint," George said. "When that ligament, when the thumb is forced in an abduction position, forced away from the body it tears that ligament and therefore when we try to grip, in his case, hold a ball the thumb is unstable in order to hold any object."
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Dr. George said the damage is repaired by reattaching the ligament to the bone using anchors, sutures and surgical tape. He won't be operating on Brees, but he's performed similar surgeries on Saints players and other athletes.
"There's always a little bit of stiffness early on, but with these superior athletes they work through that pretty aggressively and assuming all things go well, yes sir, I would not expect this to be a career ending injury for any athlete," George said.
Dr. George added Brees may not even be able to grip the ball for at least two weeks.
"He can do conditioning," George said. "He can use the other arm, but he would not be able to throw or actually take a snap until that ligament is more stable and healed."
Dr. George said in addition to gripping and throwing the ball, even a snap from center would put a lot of force on Brees' injured thumb.
Brees' conditioning regiment is legendary and the doctor admits if anyone can come back from an injury like this in record time, number 9 is that athlete.
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