Holy cow, Tatum is coming back early from this?
This is misleading.
Its actually really fun and feels great.
Title of your sex tape
Cool cool cool cool cool
Makes me want some smoked salmon
He’s more machine now than man.
“…twisted and evil…” - Anonymous Knicks Fan
Percentage wise at least
do the nails just.. stay in?
The bone anchors? Yes
Please stop calling them that. It makes my skin hurt.
I for one think it’s awesome we can shove screws and rods into our bones and the bones just grow around them and actually get stronger. Bones are the best, ligaments and tendons suck because they take forever to heal whereas bone is like…6 weeks and I’m good as new
Fun fact: the reason ligaments dont heal all that quickly is because they have a low blood supply, while bones heal very quickly because the blood is literally made in them. From an evolution perspective it makes perfect sense, a wild animal with a torn ligament can still mostly function, even if more limited. A wild animal with a broken leg is not going to make it very far trying to hunt or escape predators
Nature is fucking metal. Love it
FWIW I’m not sure it’s really known that was the selective pressure that drove blood cell formation in bone marrow. There’s a lot of theories it had more to do with protecting those progenitor cells in the marrow.
It certainly wasn’t a ligament vs bone competition though.
That’s what big ligament wants you to think.
Wait is “nails” better??!
Tatum is in incredible shape and health, so he probably bounces back from anything faster than the average people. And they jumped on the surgery very fast, which we’re led to believe has a big impact on recovery time. Overall, pretty damn incredible.
His entire job, from waking up to going to sleep, is to recovery.
Meanwhile I had this surgery in July also,
I’m also trying to work a 40 plus hour a week job, raise kids, pay the bills, find time to cook, and sneak in 2 or 3 sessions of physical therapy a week
To be fair, he’s also raising kids, has or soon to have a baby to care for as well.
Honestly from what I understand I don’t think how in-shape you are matters for tendon recovery but I recall there being research that shows the sooner you can get surgery after a tear the better for recovery.
Tatum’s tear happened to occur right down the street from the hospital where Martin O’ Malley (probably the world expert on Achilles surgery) works, so he was blessed in that way. That and access to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of full-time PT professionals at Auerbach lol.
Yup. Basically, when you tear your Achilles, it’s like a thick rubber band snapping. The two ends immediately start pulling apart, and your calf muscle pulls one end further and further up your leg, creating a gap. If you get surgery fast, the surgeon can just pull those two fresh ends back together and stitch them up. But if you wait, that gap gets too big to close, and your body tries to fill it with weak scar tissue. This makes the surgery way more complicated and the recovery isn’t usually as good.
Tatum did not get this version, he got a newer and improved Speedbridge procedure, which involves screws directly into the heel of the foot. It’s not out of the realm of possibility for Tatum to return February/March if our team is doing well enough. I still think he should take his time though.
This one also has screws in the heel; the one he got is different, though?
the shown procedure is infact a speed bridge. Mr djdarkflame here must have just not watched the whole thing.
I didn’t say it wasn’t a speedbridge, I just said he likely had a newer version of it than what’s shown here. Here’s a video for reference.
This one involves bioabsorable sutures and anchors, and it’s overall less invasive to the body too, instead of what’s shown in the older technique. Yes, they both have screws in the heel, but have a slightly different approach, I should have explained better earlier.
Ahh yes, agreed. I thought you were saying that the one pictured didn’t have heel anchors. Had the newer version of the speed bridge done myself two years ago. Tatum recovery is quick but not unprecedented imo. It’s amazing the difference the anchors make compared to the traditional repair.
How are you feeling two years after the procedure, have you gained a good amount of strength back in that leg? And yes Tatum has some pretty good healing genes, but his recovery is still within range of normal I would say. Hopefully he can make return in the spring if we’re good enough, but I just want the best for him overall.
So I tore it playing soccer and I’m now back (was playing semi professionally, now just playing in intramural leagues). I was 32 at time so I decided it was time to focus more on my job.
Day to day I don’t notice it anymore, but when I’m playing soccer I don’t feel as explosive. Definitely lost a bit of that quick twitch movement I had before. But no pain, no complaints. The size of my calf never recovered either it’s noticeably smaller than the other side.
Do you know if it was the MIS version?
There’s a few different types, so it’s all speculation but I linked in another comment a video of what I believe Tatum received. The midsubstance speedbridge procedure. I just don’t believe the quoted video is the exact one Tatum received the night of his injury.
It was never confirmed that he got the speedbridge
Any surgeons in here who can explain why they don’t thread through the lower tendon, but rather drill an anchor to the heel bone?
I had this surgery and I don’t think I have the heel screws, there are definitely multiple ways to connect the tendon, there is a new Speed bridge technique for example.
Same here. I didn’t get the speedbridge either (though a lot of athletes do). I’m fairly certain that my upper and lower tendon parts were threaded together.
(Man, this injury sucks.)
They do thread through the lower tendon, but don’t anchor the strings in tendon as it wouldn’t be secure enough - bone heals very fast and with great strength compared to tendon, so using the bone as the anchor is the norm for most tendon and ligament repairs
(Tagged as NSFW in case folks are squeamish about the simulated surgery.)
I am generally squeamish but this didn’t bother me for some reason. I appreciate the thought still though I’m sure it def got a lot of others.
It always amazes me how “mechanical” this stuff is.
A lot of orthopedic surgery has a lot in common with very precise carpentry. There’s a whole lot of art involved in adapting to each individual’s unique structure. No two people’s bodies are alike. The amount of variation is crazy interesting.
Same with dentistry.
The procedure Tatum got was minimally invasive as opposed to the full procedure you see in the video
It’s insane that someone just came up with this. Like, hey, let’s cut open this person who clearly has some sort of issues it their lower leg, see what we see, and then go, let’s just SCREW into the bone and use threads to tighten it all up. Science rocks.
https://preview.redd.it/4qkwzkk9yowf1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=481cdd5c13f05b4295d85e111441f1f4ee8607ec
our goat coming back stronger, trust.
Look what they did to my boy
There are apparently two methods for doing this surgery, one with screws and newer methods without. I believe Tatum got the newer one without screws.
Both methods have screws
Haha I almost crossposted this but didn’t think anyone would care
The procedure looks scary fr
built different
Wait yall didn’t spend ~6 hours watching pars device / speedbridge Achilles tendon repairs the next day at work? No? Just me?
He might be*, don’t jinx it
Ha back in the day me and the boys used to do this prank on whoever fell asleep first at the sleep over. You just don’t see humour like this anymore
Makes you wonder if they could just build athletes from scratch.
Was his tear THAT bad? Like completely torn?
A ruptured Achilles is a complete tear. It’s not always in the same spot but usually near the heel where the tendon is narrowest
Oof, I didn’t know that… damn. Now I get why people are so concerned.
I really hope he doesn’t. There’s only downside to rushing back and if he hurts it again he may never be even close to the same. Just sit til fall ‘26.
How do they put the skin back on after?
Carefully.
This isn’t the procedure he had though.
All i did was partially tore mine. That was still 3 or 4 months. Just this year I’m giving it a little more now. And I’m fat and old with only weekly or bi weekly physiotherapy. All in how you handle pain.
Tatum has talked about a huge present for the fans on xmas
I didn’t know dental floss was that strong.
It’s because HES ONLY 19!
This surgery was a great success, and the skeleton went on to average 20/8/6 for the Pacers in 2017-2018
I felt that
He eats his veggies, so he’ll be fine
Wait…
Are those screws on his foot forever!?!?!?!?
As someone with like 16 screws in my leg, yeah. They’re a bunch of fun
16?!?! Was there an accident?
Shattered my leg skiing, I’m lucky to not have a permanent limp..but I can tell when the atmospheric pressure is changing lol
jeez, well that’s fortunate. Glad you’re okay.
Now you’ve got a little super power lol
Hasbro sold this as a Play Set to us 1980s kids.
My light skinned angel
The idea of drilling into bone is so fucking bothersome to me
I have insertional Achilles tendinopathy, and this video terrified me.
I am NOT excited for JT coming back early. I feel he is rushing back with no need. We have guys like JT then we have mfs like kawhii 😂