This real patient was compensated for the time they took to share their personal experience with the InternalBrace procedure.
This real patient was compensated for the time they took to share their personal experience with the Syndesmosis TightRope® procedure.
While ankle injuries are common in Division 1 football players, the chances that two teammates with lockers next to each other share both a very similar injury – and the same surgeon — are much lower. And then just wait until you discover that the two athletes actually have the same name.
“It’s pretty crazy, we’re both Sam, we’re both left-handed, we’re like the same person,” laughed Sammy Brown. The 5-star linebacker for Clemson University was injured in a football game in his hometown in 2023.
“It was like my foot just stuck in the ground, while the rest of me kept going,” Sammy said. “I have had ankle sprains before and toughed them out, but this one was different.”
He suffered a high ankle sprain on the left side with an additional injury to his deltoid ligament. Sammy went to see Clemson University team physician, Steven L. Martin, MD (Seneca, SC).
“Sammy had a serious injury on the inside of his leg, in addition to the high ankle sprain,” Dr. Martin said. “We treated it arthroscopically using the InternalBrace™ procedure on both the deltoid and the anterior inferior tibiofibular ligament (AITFL) along with the Syndesmosis TightRope® XP Implant System.”
Sammy’s Clemson teammate, offensive lineman Sam Judy, also suffered a high ankle sprain in 2023, but he was injured on his right side while working out in the weight room.
“I was doing pause squats with 450 pounds on the bar when I got off balance and rolled my ankle under all that weight,” Sam said.
No stranger to ankle sprains himself, Sam thought he could walk it off.
“Usually, you can grit your teeth and get through it,” he said.
But this time, his ankle just collapsed when he tried.
“Sam also had a serious high ankle sprain, which takes much longer to recover from than an injury lower down,” Dr. Martin said. “We repaired his arthroscopically using the Syndesmosis TightRope® XP Implant System to stabilize the ankle and then we secured it with the InternalBrace procedure, which acts like a seatbelt to protect the repair during the healing process.”
Today, both Sam and Sammy are both back on the field and playing at the top of their game.
“Within a month I was back in practice,” Sam said. “I am on the offensive line, so I’m pushing up against 300-pound dudes. I am back to 100 percent, if not even better than I was before.”
Dr. Martin says that is precisely why these repairs are so valuable for athletes.
“In earlier years, these types of injuries could end a football player’s career,” he said. “As big, strong and fast as these athletes are, they hit hard and get hit hard. Now, we have the ability to get them back on the field and even move them on to the NFL after a serious injury.”
And that is exactly where Sammy Brown hopes to be in the near future. He exploded on defense in his debut season at Clemson, playing in all 14 games and earning Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Defensive Rookie of the Year and Freshman All-America honors.
“This surgery has worked wonders for me,” he said. “I feel better than ever. My left ankle is solid as a rock and nothing can hold me back.”
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