Orthopedic surgeon on Achilles tendon tears and what Pacers center James Wiseman can expect
The Pacers suffered their first injury of the season when 23-year-old James Wiseman suffered a torn left Achilles tendon. He had surgery 24 hours later. A doctor from Penn Medicine schools us up.

One week ago in the Indiana Pacers’ season opener in Detroit, center James Wiseman suffered a non-contact injury after being on the court less than five minutes.
He needed assistance off the court, then made his way to the locker room and was immediately ruled out for the game. By the next morning, he underwent an MRI in New York City — and it confirmed the worst, a torn left Achilles tendon.
Wiseman’s mother was at the game in Detroit (where he previously played) and the Pacers allowed for her to travel with the team to New York to be with James, head coach Rick Carlisle said.
The team then acted quickly. And less than 24 hours after the injury occurred inside Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Wiseman underwent surgery by one of the leading surgeons in his field.
The surgery was performed by Dr. Martin O’Malley at the Hospital for Special Surgery on Oct. 24. He repaired Kevin Durant’s torn Achilles, along with dozens of other NBA players — including former Pacer Edmond Sumner. O’Malley also serves as the team orthopedist for the Brooklyn Nets and USA Basketball.
So Wiseman was in good hands. He’s also just 23 so being young is on his side.
The Achilles tendon is the strongest tendon in the body and the surgery is straightforward — sewing the two ends together and ensuring the tension is correct. From there, the focus turns to early activity and weight-bearing movements while minimizing the stretching of the tendon. That’s the worst thing.
To learn more about the injury, I spoke with Dr. Casey Humbyrd, chief of the foot and ankle division of orthopedic surgery at Penn Medicine. This is outside perspective from a physician who has studied and performed the surgery.
Let’s start with James having surgery less than 24 hours after it occurred. Why is that important or an advantage for recovery?
So it’s always ideal the faster you can fix things just because the recovery time starts from the date of surgery. Then the sooner you’re fixed up, the less atrophy there is of muscles that aren't being used normally because you're on crutches. And so it just shortens the timeline for a full recovery.
Nowadays, Achilles tears seem to be the most grueling of all injuries. It used to be ACLs. What can he anticipate going through in the short-term?
I take care of Achilles and don't do ACLs anymore, in terms of my sports practice. But essentially, our goal with Achilles tendon and what our lab and research is focused on is how quickly can we aggressively get people back? What's the ideal boot to get early weight-bearing?
And so everything's about trying to strengthen the tendon without stretching it. So when you get these injuries, the tendon tears and recoils. And so then you put it back together again. The muscle is what pulls on the tendon. The tendon is the static structure, whereas the muscle is contracting and relaxing. And so trying to make sure those muscles don't atrophy, don't become disorganized, don't become weak.
Every surgeon has their own protocol. I work very closely with physical therapists who guide the rehabilitation following my protocol. But essentially, for me, as soon as the incision is healed, I'm getting them walking in a boot. And we have a particular boot we prefer just because it's been shown to increase early loading of the tendon. So that paper is forthcoming. And then we're very aggressive in terms of our step-by-step rehabilitation.