BU Sport's Rehabilitation therapist about Jayson Tatum Achilles injury and relaxation in front of us | Bu today

Physiotherapist of the Ryan Center say that the injury is common for professional athletes and weekly warners

Dan Sienczkiewicz saw the fourth game of the Boston Celtics playoffs against the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden on TV when Boston's superstar Jayson fell on the floor and held his right ankle.

“My first thought was” Oh, Noooo “,” says Sieczkiewicz (Sargent'07, '09), an extraordinary faculty member in the doctor of the physiotherapy program at the Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences at the Boston University at the coffin college of health & rehabilitation and the rehabilitation of Ryan -Zentrum The Boston University.

Tatum had tried to jump for a loose ball, and instead he fell and he suffered a broken Achilles tendon. He was helped with obvious pain in front of the square and his team lost to the Knicks, who took the lead 3-1 in the series. The Celtics lost the series on Friday evening with 4: 2. Tatum's recovery now all makes it to miss the next season.

“As a basketball fan, a Celtics fan, there are many reasons to feel about what happened, and last but not least, people are destroyed for people behind the injury,” says SiiEczkiewicz. “He is a person and happens to be in the spotlight. But that's difficult.”

The injury is common in athletes of all levels, from professionals about the weekend wars, and it is one that the therapists of the Ryan Center have experience in treatment.

SieCzkiewicz says that it was repeated on television and slow motion as if Tatum experienced the classic mechanism for an Achilles tear. “It was his intention to go forward, but his first step was backwards. And if this happens, there is an immense amount of tensions on the Achilles tendon, and if his calf muscle brings together to drive it forward, the Achilles tendon is sufficiently loaded, in which the structure fails.

“Instead of actually going forward, he just falls to the ground. There is nothing left with his calf muscle with his foot,” he says. “I saw it on social media, enlarged slow video-sie can see how the calf muscle vibrates as soon as the Achilles tendon tears.”

Caleigh O'Brien (Sargent'15, '17), a high -ranking educational physics therapist in the Ryan Center and also a coffin physical therapy program adjunct faculty member, explains that the Achilles tendon transfers the strength that helps us to work both in our daily activities as well as in higher levels such as jumping.

“Sometimes a tear can only be part of it, but a break is a tear in full thickness, so there basically dangles pieces of both ends,” says O'Brien. “Two ends that were previously connected are no longer connected.”

Sieczkiewicz and O'Brien emphasize that they do not speak specifically about Tatum – they do not treat him and what they know about his injury comes from video and news reports. News Outlets reported on the announcement of the Celtics: Tatum had suffered a break in his right Achilles – and operations were successfully repaired the next day.

“I think it happens in a very, very similar way,” says O'Brien. “In our clinic we see many recreational athletes, so things are things that jump or many changes in direction in one place. Basketball is super common, even things like gymnastics. Many farm sports such as pickleball and tennis. And then absolutely football.”

The most remarkable Achilles injury to an NBA star was Kevin Durant in 2019, and since then there has been progress in surgical techniques, so O'Brien and Sieczkiewicz say.

“When [NFL quarterback] Aaron Rodgers tore his Achilles in the NFL [in 2023]Everyone heard from this Speed ​​Bridge Protocol for the repair of Achilles tendons, ”says Siieczkiewicz, a method that uses both seams and anchors for a stronger, more stable repair that could enable earlier recovery.

“I don't know if he had this procedure or not, but this is becoming more and more common with athletes on a high level,” he says. “You will tend to the tendon together and then thread a wire or thread type from the top of the tendon, where it hits the muscle to the heel bone and offers the tendon additional support. 833

Rehabilitation creativity: challenge in protection

Although high -ranking athletes such as Tatum may receive specialized care in order to return to their pre -injury, say SieCzkiewicz and O'Brien that the basics of the recovery process are the same for everyone, starting with general conditioning exercises.

“We work in an outpatient clinic that differs a lot from the professional sports world,” says O'Brien, “but I would imagine starting rehab within a few weeks.”

Physiotherapists would start using the upper body muscles from the injury to avoid the repaired tendon.

“Part of the creativity in these early stages of rehabilitation is to find paths to question this individual on site and at the same time protect the repair,” says Siieczkiewicz. “This can be a nuclear exercise, cardiovascular exercises that affect the upper extremities, things like this.”

As a rule, patients will not put a weight on the injured leg for several weeks, he says. And then it is a gradual progress in weight -containing activities that are usually in a hiking chair to avoid that the tendon is expanded during healing.

“This is one of the most important things you should avoid throughout the rehab, because if a tendon becomes too stretchy, you lose explosiveness,” he says. “That would be catastrophic for a player like Tatum and his style of play. He has a very quick first step and drives into the basket, and he needs this explosiveness.

As a rule, patients in front of the hiking chair will be crutches on crutches for a period of time, says O'Brien. “Small pads or elevators in the trunk are used at the start to keep the toe down, and avoid this again to stretch the tendon. Then the foot is gradually returned to a more normal position.

“For every or two weeks, give you a change of ankle position, maybe five degrees, and so you go out in the community,” she says.

After 8 to 12 weeks you can return to a shoe, but still with heel lifts to avoid that the tendon becomes too early. But it is a long, slow path to relaxation, which is difficult for Celtics fans, given the importance of Tatum for the team.

“This is an educated speculation, but it is probably about a year for it to play in an NBA game,” says Sieczkiewicz and repeats NBA analysts. If the Celtics do a playoff run in 2026, Tatum may still be able to be back in top shape.

“Think about what the Achilles have to get to take part in basketball,” says O'Brien. “Running could basically be between six, seven -fold body weight of the Achilles tendon between six and seven. And jumping can be between 8 and 11 times between the body weight. So we have all of these criteria that people should meet to determine when it is certain that they are progressing.”

The worst thing that can happen during rehab is of course a new effort of the tendon, but that happens in 5 percent or less, the two say. A situation that is familiar to athletes of all levels is much more common: “Only that you exaggerate it a little with the exercise and the pain takes too long, so you have to get back,” says O'Brien.

In view of the progress in surgical techniques and acts – he is only 27 – both physiotherapists will believe that he should be able to return to the same level of game he had before his injury.

“I have the feeling that he gets damn close,” says die-hard Celts fan Sieczkiewicz. “Maybe it means a few changes in the style of his game, but I think he will come back and be one of the best players in the league.”

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