Tom Brady shared a surprising story from his playing days that could have completely changed the trajectory of his legendary NFL career.
After a season where he was constantly dealing with nagging groin pain, he went in for what he expected to be a routine medical evaluation.
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Instead, he says the team doctor proposed something far more drastic than he ever imagined: an operation that would involve cutting the adductor tendons on both sides of his groin in order to prevent the issue from recurring.
“After the season, I tell the doctor, My groin’s just really sore all the time. Every time I move, I can feel it just grab,” said Brady on the Stick to Football podcast.
“And the team doctor says, This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to do an adductor release, we’re going in there and cut the adductor tendon in your groin. We’re also going to cut the other side, so it never becomes a problem.”
According to Brady, the recommendation was presented as a long-term fix, but it came with a heavy implication that the procedure might eventually become necessary if the discomfort continued.
For an athlete whose game depended on precise movement, balance, and lower-body strength, the idea of permanently altering those tendons sounded extreme. He admits he wasn’t comfortable with the suggestion and began looking for alternatives almost immediately.
Brady decided to get a second opinion and reached out to someone he trusted outside the team medical structure. That decision took him to Los Angeles, where he spent just a few days working with a specialist focused on restoring movement through targeted bodywork.
“I called Alex when I left the office. I said, Alex, the doctor told me to do this adductor release. What do you think? He said, Absolutely not. Fly out to LA with me for 3 days and I’ll fix it,” said Brady.
“So I fly out there and worked the adductors, lengthened and softened both muscles, my hips, all my glutes, basically relieved the tension on the tendon. And 3 days later, no more pain.”
The recovery that changed everything
What happened next, according to Brady, was surprisingly fast. After only three days of focused treatment and recovery work, he says the pain that had been bothering him for so long simply disappeared.
More importantly, it didn’t return. He avoided surgery entirely and continued playing at an elite level for years afterward, ultimately extending his career until age 45. In his telling, a procedure once described as highly likely was never needed again.
Brady has said that the doctor who originally evaluated him believed there was a 99% chance he would eventually require the surgery. Yet, he insists that to this day, nothing ever came of it.
The contrast between those two outcomes has become part of how he reflects on the importance of seeking different perspectives, especially in high-stakes athletic decisions.