Brett Favre's streak of 297 consecutive games started at quarterback in the NFL is over. To me, this is the most incredible streak in all of sports. Favre has battled through many injuries during his career, but the latest one ended the streak. During last week's game against the Buffalo Bills, Favre was hit hard and landed on the tip of his right shoulder. I recently blogged that this mechanism of injury could cause a fracture of the clavicle. Well, another injury this mechanism can cause and did cause to Favre is a sternoclavicular joint fracture. This joint is where the proximal end of the clavicle (the end closest to the center of the body) articulates with the sternum. You can see in the above picture that many ligaments help hold this joint together. Anytime you move your shoulder, the clavicle will move/rotate as well. Place your left hand on your right sternoclavicular joint, move your right shoulder up and down, and you can feel the clavicle move. Now, imagine the amount of pain you would be in as you moved your shoulder if the ligaments that held the clavicle and sternum together were injured. As a quarterback, this pain would be intensified due to the throwing motion, plus the probability of getting hit around the shoulder. It just wasn't worth the risk for Favre to play. It would have been very risky for him to get an injection near the joint to numb the joint for the game, because of the arteries, nerves, and veins that pass right behind the clavicle.
Now, for a little background on myself and how I've followed Brett Favre. Growing up in Hattiesburg and attending Southern Miss football games since before I could walk, I remember watching Brett Favre play when I was just a kid; I especially remember being at Legion Field in 1990 and watching Favre lead the Eagles to a victory over Alabama just weeks after he had a car wreck and lost a portion of his large intestine. I became a Packers fan as soon as he was traded there, and watched every game I could growing up. I eventually got to see Favre play as a professional with the Jets two years ago, and couldn't believe how close he got to the Super Bowl last year. I was five years old when Favre first started at Southern Miss, and 10 when his NFL streak began. I am just shy of 29 years old as the streak ends. I can't remember what football was like without Brett Favre. The NFL just won't be the same without him.
