Tom Brady's doctor says knee recovery exceeds expectations

In January, scarcely three months after undergoing a reconstruction of his injured left knee, Tom Brady gave his orthopedic surgeon a gift.

It felt like a present to Dr. Neal ElAttrache, anyway.

Brady summoned him to a Southern California park, and, with the sun setting over the ocean, the New England Patriots quarterback gave his doctor a demonstration of just how far his recuperating knee had come. The 2007 NFL most valuable player performed a brief, light workout, showing he could drop back, roll out, fire passes and was well on his way to recovery.

"When he did that, and all he had to do was look at me with that smile on his face like, 'Aren't you happy?' That meant everything to me," said ElAttrache, who specializes in sports medicine at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the NFL star's surgery and physical rehabilitation, ElAttrache told The Times that Brady "even exceeded what I thought he was going to be able to do, and I was expecting big things from him."

With Brady's permission, ElAttrache spoke about the knee reconstruction, treatment of a subsequent infection, and the patient's unwavering focus to recuperate in time to play this season.

"With regard to his recovery of strength, I've never seen anything quite like it," said ElAttrache, who serves as team physician for the Dodgers and worked with the L.A. Rams. "With an average person, it would have taken probably twice as long to get range of motion and strength back."

Brady, who returned to practice last week for the first time since his injury, was sidelined for the 2008 season after suffering a three-ligament knee injury in the opener against Kansas City.

Instead of staying in Boston to have his surgery, Brady chose to have the reconstruction performed by ElAttrache, an expert and also his friend and occasional golf partner. That decision was scrutinized and criticized, particularly by the media in New England, after details trickled out of a post-operative staph infection that required two follow-up procedures on the knee.

"I remember when we came out of the original procedure and five days later things weren't going the way that we hoped, and I think it was his instincts and quick decision making that got me in there before anything really bad could happen," Brady said. "If you misdiagnose something like that, then you have big problems. It was his judgment and instincts, and then him assuring me that everything was going to be OK.