NFL, Tom Brady
Tom Brady Reveals 4 Days of Treatment Ended a 10-Year Elbow Battle That Changed His NFL Career 1
Tom Brady spent more than 10 years playing through elbow pain that had become part of his football life. Throwing hurt. Practice hurts. The pain lingered for so long that Brady eventually accepted it as something he simply had to manage. According to Brady, four days of treatment changed his entire approach to playing.
The quarterback recently revisited that stretch and explained how Alex Guerrero attacked the problem by working on the muscles surrounding his elbow. Brady was not exactly convinced it would work. After years of dealing with the issue, he had every reason to be skeptical but the results quickly changed his mind.
Tom Brady Credits Four-Day Treatment With Changing His Career
Tom BradyTom Brady
Mar 21, 2026; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Founders FFC quarterback Tom Brady (12) talks with fans during the Fanatics Flag Football Classic at BMO stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Brady said the problem had followed him for roughly a decade creating constant discomfort whenever he threw. When he first began working with Guerrero, the focus wasn’t immediately on the elbow itself. Instead, Guerrero worked deeply on Brady’s forearms, biceps and triceps, which he believed were excessively tight and putting additional strain around the tendon.
The initial session provided some relief, however, Brady remained cautious. After all, this was not a new issue that had appeared overnight but had been dealing with the pain for years.
“It’s the first day of treatment and Alex starts working on me with this really deep force muscle work on my forearm muscles, on my bicep, on my tricep. He says, ‘Okay, it’s obvious why your elbow’s hurting. You have really bad tendinitis because you have these muscles that are really dense and really tight, and they’re tugging really hard on your elbow tendon, and your elbow tendon’s really inflamed. We’re going to take some Aleve to get some of the swelling down. We’re going to ice your tendon a little bit, and I’m going to begin, over time, to relax these muscles out so that they’re not so tight and so dense and so stiff
I was like, ‘Well, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, I doubt it’ll work, but let’s see what happens.’ So he does it the first day, and I definitely felt some relief, but this has been 10 years I’ve been feeling this pain in my elbow….”
Tom Brady says four days of treatment from Alex Guerrero relieved 10 years of elbow tendinitis and changed his NFL career
“It’s the first day of treatment and Alex starts working on me with this really deep force muscle work on my forearm muscles, on my bicep, on my tricep. He… pic.twitter.com/NjYicFTZqF
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Brady said Guerrero treated him before practice, allowing him to throw, then worked on him again afterward. The improvement came quickly. By the second day, Brady estimated he was already feeling significantly better. The treatments continued, and the difference became impossible for him to ignore.
That realization mattered because Brady was not simply looking for temporary relief but was trying to keep doing something his body had been fighting for years.
The QBs relationship with Guerrero became a major part of his longevity strategy, with recovery, movement and body maintenance becoming central to how he prepared for each season. Brady ultimately continued playing until age 45, adding some of the most productive seasons of his career well after many quarterbacks would have already walked away.
That willingness to question the first answer became a recurring theme in Brady’s career.