In recent comments, Haliburton shared that he and Jones connected during their recoveries, noting that having the same surgeon helped spark conversations throughout the rehabilitation process.

Read the full article at clutchpoints.com. 

This article also published in Yahoo! Sports.

The article also explores the growing focus on Achilles injuries in professional sports and the evolving treatment approaches that are improving outcomes for athletes. Dr. O'Malley expressed confidence in both players' recoveries, noting their commitment to the rehabilitation process and predicting a "return to greatness." 

Read the full article at indystar.com. A subscription is required to access. 

Recovery from Achilles tendinopathy often includes strengthening, mobility work and low-impact exercise to gradually rebuild tendon resilience. For athletes, prioritizing recovery now can support long-term health and performance while helping ensure a safe return to play.

"Certainly that risk of injury, of rupturing, would be higher if you don't give yourself adequate time to heal and recover, and if you don’t make the changes that you need to change or you need to make going forward," said Dr. Voellmicke.

Read the full article at ctinsider.com. A subscription is required to access.

Jones’ surgery was performed by Martin O’Malley, MD, foot and ankle surgeon at HSS, who also performed Achilles repairs on NBA stars Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics and Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers.

Read the full article at yardbarker.com.

DiVincenzo‘s operation was performed by Martin O’Malley, MD, foot and ankle surgeon at HSS. Dr. O'Malley's name carries enormous significance in NBA circles, having performed the same procedure on Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum last May, less than 24 hours after Tatum suffered an identical injury.

Dr. O’Malley is known for using the SpeedBridge technique, which reinforces the repaired tendon with an anchor-based support structure to accelerate healing. The method has reshaped how NBA franchises approach Achilles recovery. A catastrophic injury that once ended careers is increasingly viewed as a setback rather than an NBA death sentence.

Read the full article at lastwordonsports.com.

DiVincenzo underwent Achilles repair surgery less than 24 hours after his injury with Martin O’Malley, MD, foot and ankle surgeon at HSS, the same surgeon who repaired Tatum’s Achilles injury in 2025.

That connection matters. Tatum reportedly contacted DiVincenzo immediately after the injury as he fully understood the emotional rollercoaster attached to an Achilles rupture. Tatum’s own return in under 10 months has now become a source of motivation across NBA rehab circles.

Read the full article at hardwoodheroics.com.

“While it’s not an open fracture dislocation, it can be a devastating injury for athletes as it takes a long time to be strong enough to return to play and can leave them with a permanent amount of some weakness,” said Dr. Elliott.

“Many elite athletes have returned to a high level of play post Achilles rupture and repair. There are examples across sports – Football (Soccer), American Football, Basketball – of top players making successful returns," he continued.

“Football forwards may lose a little of their top sprint speed, but they can still be highly effective and successful competitors.”

Read the full article at bloodred.substack.com.

The procedure was performed within 24 hours of the injury, which DiVincenzo suffered during game four of the team’s playoff series. 

Dr. O’Malley previously performed Achilles repair surgery on Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum in May 2025, who returned to play in about 10 months.

Read the full article at beckersspine.com.

Dr. O’Malley drew widespread attention after performing surgery to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon sustained by Minnesota Timberwolves guard Donte DiVincenzo.

Read the full article at beckersspine.com.

Dr. O'Malley also repaired the torn Achilles of Jayson Tatum in May 2025. The fact that the procedure took place within 24 hours of DiVincenzo's injury should help with the recovery. 

Read the full article at cbssports.com.

As he watched Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum roll on the floor gripping his ankle, Dr. O’Malley’s worst fear—and professional opinion—was that Tatum had torn his Achilles tendon. In one agonizing moment, Boston’s hopes of repeating as champions crumbled on the hardwood.

The difference between Dr. O’Malley and the millions of others who happened to witness Tatum’s moment of misery was that Dr. O’Malley would soon be in a position to do something about it. 

Minutes after the tear, his phone lit up with a call. The Celtics needed him to salvage the face of their franchise.

“As soon as the Achilles ruptures, things are going the wrong way,” said Dr. O’Malley. “You get atrophy, change in physiology from the minute you rupture it. The best thing to do is to fix it faster.”

Sixteen hours after Tatum was writhing on the court against the New York Knicks, he was stretched out on Dr. O’Malley’s operating table. Today, less than a year after suffering basketball’s most dreaded injury, he has done more than simply return to the court sooner than anyone expected.

Read the full article at wsj.com. A subscription is required to access. 

The Syracuse wide receiver's Achilles surgery was performed by Martin O'Malley, MD, foot and ankle surgeon at HSS. Dr. O'Malley has also performed the surgery on NBA players like Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum, as well as Syracuse quarterback Steve Angeli.  

Read the full article at spectrumlocalnews.com. 

Dr. O'Malley also performed Achilles surgery on Jayson Tatum. 

Read the full article at si.com. 

Dr. O'Malley has also performed Achilles repair surgery on athletes such as Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, Daniel Jones, and Kevin Durant. 

Russell suffered the injury in practice this week, Syracuse head coach Fran Brown announced. He is preparing for his freshman season with the Orange after arriving as a Top-100 recruit and is also joining the men’s basketball program.

Read the full article at on3.com.

The Celtics Blog has reported on Tatum's return, noting that a part of why he was able to pull this speedy rehab off is because, by all accounts, he has a wonderful training and medical staff around him, including his surgeon, Martin O’Malley, MD, foot and ankle surgeon at HSS. 

Read the full article at celticsblog.com. 

Jones underwent surgery performed by Martin O'Malley, MD, foot and ankle surgeon at HSS. Dr. O’Malley has also treated other high-profile athletes such as Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton, both of whom underwent Achilles repairs. Tatum's successful comeback, along with a list of quarterbacks who have rebounded well from Achilles injuries, point to an encouraging outlook for Jones.

Dr. O’Malley is among a growing group of surgeons using an updated Achilles repair technique that involves a significantly smaller incision than traditional methods, which may reduce the risk of infection and other complications, potentially leading to faster and more effective recoveries.

Read the full article at espn.com.

Tatum's determination to make it back in roughly 10 months is impressive, but it also highlights how far sports medicine and rehabilitation have advanced. It's also a promising sign for Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, who suffered an Achilles tear during the NBA finals and also underwent surgery by Dr. O’Malley within 24 hours of his injury. If Haliburton were to return for Indiana during the preseason, his recovery timeline would sit at roughly 15 months and two weeks. Seeing multiple other NBA stars successfully return from Achilles injuries within that timeline provides optimism.

Read the full article at si.com.

According to Dr. Ellis, the foot and ankle injuries we’re seeing in the NBA now are overuse injuries due to the demands of the schedule. Typically, the common injuries in the league were stress fractures or navicular fractures in the foot from all the pounding amid 82 games. But nowadays, calf strains and Achilles tears are popping up far more frequently — especially in younger athletes.

Read the full article at sports.yahoo.com. 

USA TODAY interviewed experts including Claire D. Eliasberg, MD, sports medicine surgeon at HSS, to pinpoint factors driving the surge, and – most crucially – what can be done to prevent them.

“Think about the lifetime accumulation on these tendons,” Dr. Eliasberg, “With this early, early sports specialization, which has changed in recent years, by the time these athletes are in their late 20s and 30s, it’s almost like they’ve played entire seasons before they even enter the pros.”

Read the full article at USAtoday.com. 

For a long time, an Achilles rupture signaled the end of a career for an elite athlete, explained Dr. O'Malley. It meant weeks in a full-leg cast, after which “there’d be so much atrophy in the leg, a player would never recover,” O’Malley said.

But with advances in surgery and rehab, that's no longer the case, Dr. O'Malley explained. 

Read the full article at people.com. 

The announcement casts a pall on his historic postseason run, which included a litany of incredible plays, buzzer-beating winners and occasionally unprecedented stat lines, and it helped propel the Pacers to their second NBA Finals appearance and within one victory of the franchise’s first championship.

“An MRI taken on Monday confirmed that Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon. Surgery took place at HSS with Foot and Ankle surgeon Martin J. O’Malley at HSS,” the team said.

After surgery, Haliburton took to social media to share a heartfelt message.

“Words cannot express the pain of this letdown,” Haliburton wrote. “The frustration is unfathomable. I’ve worked my whole life to get to this moment and this is how it ends? Makes no sense.

“I know I’ll come out on the other side of this a better man and a better player. And honestly, right now, torn Achilles and all, I don’t regret it. I’d do it again, and again after that, to fight for this city and my brothers. For the chance to do something special.”

Read the full article at NBA.com. 

If there was one fortunate part of Tatum’s unfortunate situation, it was that he was located just down the road from Martin J. O’Malley, MD, foot and ankle surgeon at HSS, who Stevens lauded as “a terrific surgeon, who has done a number of these (operations).”

“[Tatum] was out of the MRI and consultation and done with surgery by the time we had an injury report the next day, because there was real benefit to doing it early,” Stevens said. “So as tough as that injury is and as tough as that was that night, just an amazing set of circumstances, and an amazing thank you from our organization to Dr. O’Malley, the nurses at HSS and everybody there.” 

Read the full article at nba.com. 

Read the full article at ESPN.com.

Additional coverage: PGATour.com, Reuters.com, Golf.com, SI.com, and Foxsports.com. 

Watch the full episode at youtube.com. 

If you feel like you’ve just been kicked in the bottom of your heel, but turn around to see nobody there, you may be experiencing an issue with your Achilles tendon or plantar fascia. Ever since the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, there has been a rise in heel and Achilles injuries. There are many factors contributing to the rise in these foot injuries:

-Lack of exercise from being confined at home

-Lack of proper conditioning before any form of physical activity

-Wearing little to no footwear, which provides no support to your feet. Yes, this even goes for being barefoot at home. People would be shocked at the mileage one can walk while being at home.

The above issues can result in what's been coined by myself as “pandemic foot” in an article with The New York Times, a term created due to the increase number of foot and ankle pain during and post-pandemic explained Dr. Positano.

Read the full article at usnews.com. 

Read the full article at si.com. 

“Achilles injuries are different,” said Dr. Positano. They may be healed physically, but there’s a significant psychological component as well. Every time an athlete coming off a recent Achilles injury moves, somewhere in their mind they could be wondering whether they’ll re-injure it. It takes time to overcome that and often the timeframe for true recovery is closer to two years.”

Read the full article at athlonsports.com. 

Dr. Elliott  looked at the slowed-down footage of in his first start for the New York Jets on Monday night and knew an Achilles injury would be the diagnosis. 

"When I saw the reverberation clip, yes," Dr. Elliott told Fox News Digital when asked if he saw the clip where a clear pulse went through Rodgers' calf. 

So does that mean Rodgers can return next season by Week 1?

"I think that’s a very doable date," Dr. Elliott, who has performed over 350 minimally invasive Achilles tendon repairs, said decisively. 

Jets fans may be thinking there is no way a 40-year-old quarterback can be ready for next season after suffering that kind of injury, but Dr. Elliott broke it all down to give everyone a better understanding of the process Rodgers will be entering and why he can still play at his elite level once he returns. 

Read the full article at Foxnews.com.

“Pickleball has become a musculoskeletal pandemic. We have seen a crazy increase in the amount of people hurting themselves while playing pickleball,” says Dr. Positano.

“It's great workout, but what people don't realize even though it's a smaller court, there's bigger injuries. We have seen a large increase in the number of people hurting their Achilles tendons or their heels, plantar fasciitis, fractures, etc. The reason why is it's a very quick game.  Your instinct is to make a move a lot quicker than you would on a paddleball court or tennis court,” explained Dr. Positano.

“If it last more than a day or two and you're not able to weight bear, then you really should have it looked at,” said Dr. Positano.

Watch the segment here at fox5ny.com. 

Aaron Rodgers was just a few minutes into his career as a New York Jet when he suffered one of the cruelest injuries in professional sports: a torn Achilles tendon. He’s done for the season before he ever completed a pass for his new club. But what about the rest of his career? 

Doctors are also in agreement that his recovery will be more difficult owing to the simple fact that he’s 39 years old. That may be relatively young for the general population, but it also makes him one of the oldest players in the NFL.

“Trying to get your muscle unit to come back is probably harder every year of your life,” said Dr. Elliott. “He’s not 30. He’s almost 40.”

“But you look at him,” Dr. Elliott added, “and he’s in great shape.”

Read the full article at wsj.com. 

Watch the segment here on today.com. The segment also aired on broadcast on TODAY on September 13, 2023. 

“The blood supply for that Achilles tendon will decrease by almost one third after age 30. That means less blood which translates into less elasticity, less strength, and more of a likelihood of a person who is around 35 to 45 injuring their Achilles tendon,” explained Dr. Positano. 

This segment aired on New York 1 on September 12. 

According to Dr. Metzl, as runners enter peak training season and increase their mileage for fall marathons, many can get hampered by repetitive-use injuries.

He noted that Runner’s knee and Achilles tendinitis can be deceptively minor. “They tend to hurt just a bit more every day, but if they’re not properly recognized and diagnosed, they can be quite serious,” he said.

Dr. Metzl explained that research suggests first-timers have a higher rate of injury than seasoned marathoners. It can take months for the body to adapt to distance running, he added.

The article highlights a student recently published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, led by Brett G. Toresdahl, MD, and co-authored by Dr. Metzl, showing that a rapid increase in training volume is a major predictive factor for developing an injury in marathon training.

“As long as you’re cross-training, you should be fine to pick up where you left off rather than try to catch up,” he noted.

Read the full article at WSJ.com. A subscription is required to access.

A study published in New England Journal of Medicine that involved 554 patients with a newly ruptured Achilles tendon -- mostly men in their 30s or 40s, found that without surgery, the risk of re-rupture was higher.

Dr. Elliott, who was not involved in the study, noted that patients in the study were outfitted with a special cast to immobilize the foot and ankle within 72 hours of their injury, which is a lot faster than what is typical in everyday practice.

He also noted that the choice to do surgery or not depends “first and foremost” on the individual patient.

For an athlete or highly active person, for example, surgery may be the better option. Without it, Dr. Elliott said, the tendon will heal, but not necessarily in an ideal way. Surgery can fix it more precisely, at its proper length and tension.

Dr. Elliott noted a nonsurgical approach may be better for older patients, smokers and those with health conditions that can make surgery riskier.

He explained that patient preference can also be a factor. Some are eager to avoid surgery, while others “don't even want to talk about nonsurgical options.”

Dr. Elliott underscored the treatment decision comes down to their personal situation and preferences.

Read the full article at Consumer.healthday.com. Additional coverage: Health.usnews.com.

Read the full article at Espn.com.

Dr. Metzl advised runners to add in strength training two to three times a week to help power through miles injury-free for years to come.

“Running can create muscle imbalances or accentuate ones you already have. Weak calves, for example, put too much stress on the Achilles and break down the fibers that make up the tendon. Unstable hip and core muscles hurt your biomechanics and overload your shins, which can lead to shin splints and stress fractures,” he explained.

Exercises included: Plyometric Lunge, Straight-Leg Calf Raise, Bent-Knee Calf Raise, Eccentric Calf Raise and Farmer’s Walk on Toes.

Read the full article at Runnersworld.com.

For runners who start experiencing pain in the Achilles region, it is advised to stop running because it could make it worse. Dr. Metzl explained, “An irritated Achilles tendon can turn into a more serious tendinosis and partial or complete tear of the Achilles in very rapid succession.”

For the treatment of Achilles tendinitis, see a physician if there is a lump or nodule in the area, but otherwise try to reduce swelling and irritation with icing, anti-inflammatory medicine or even self-massage, noted Dr. Metzl.

While Achilles tendinitis is healing, Dr. Metzl suggested staying away from high-impact, weight-bearing exercises and trying low-impact activities like swimming, pool running, or cycling in a low gear instead.

To prevent the recurrence of Achilles tendinitis, it’s important to strengthen the muscles in your calves and feet. Dr. Metzl cited, “The stronger the muscles, the less the loading force is on the tendon.”

To prevent Achilles tendinitis in the future, Dr. Metzl recommended shorter strides and quickening the cadence to avoid the heel-striking too heavily, as Achilles tendinitis is also linked to overstriding.

Read the full article at RunnersWorld.com.

Read the full article at Liberty.wnba.com.

After operating on Durant’s same foot in 2015, Dr. O’Malley already had the trust of his patient. “I have this ongoing relationship with him,” he explained. “And his feet.” 

The NBA season was over and Durant was a free agent. Dr. O’Malley, who is also the team orthopedist for the Brooklyn Nets, found out from his son that Durant was signing with Brooklyn. “There was never even a hint,” he cited. 

Durant spent a summer with his physiotherapist in Los Angeles, where his days included 90 minutes of morning treatment, a gym workout, 90 minutes of afternoon treatment and evening pool work. They ordered an antigravity treadmill and replicated the mechanics of his favorite moves. Dr. O’Malley watched by FaceTime. Everything they did was meant to prevent the Achilles from stretching.

Durant's physiotherapist moved back to Brooklyn with him, as the recovery process continued in the team's practice facility. They could track how he was progressing by looking at his data.

It takes basketball players with Achilles ruptures about 10 months to return. A rehab of 10 months would have normally coincided with the 2020 playoffs. Waiting for this season would have given him 16 months in a normal year, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Durant decided not to join the Nets in the NBA bubble last summer. It was 18 months before he played again. 

Dr. O'Malley said Durant can be a model for athletes with this ruinous injury in the future. “At two years,” he noted, “they should approach a full recovery.” 

Read the full article at WSJ.com. This article also appeared in print on February 14, 2021. 

Additional coverage: Netsdaily.com

Sixty patients will be recruited to undergo Achilles tendon repair surgery by HSS foot and ankle surgeon and primary investigator, Mark C. Drakos, MD. Half of the patients will receive BFR therapy and half the standard rehabilitation therapy. This study aims to reduce the recovery time by at least 30 percent, as a patient’s return to sport after Achilles surgery can take a year.

Read the full article at Beckersspine.com.

Additional coverage: Beckersspine.com.