FWIW ... you're not specific what his injury was, but a few years back I bruised a tendon and a nerve right near the base of my first metacarpal (could never figure out whether to call it a hand, thumb or wrist injury ). Had all kinds of PT (which my insurance pre-approved and then wouldn't cover because it was done by an OT ), had an ortho immobilize it for a while (big mistake), eventually the only thing that healed it was TIME. Eight months of agonizing, frustrating time.