In April 2013, Duke football quarterback Thomas Sirk ruptured his right achilles tendon at the very young age of 19. Now comes news that he has ruptured his left achilles tendon at the age of 22. It is quite unusual for people to rupture their achilles tendons before the age of 30.
In fact most everyday people seem to get the injury after the age of 35. Professional athletes who suffer from this injury typically do so a bit sooner, usually anywhere from their late 20s to their late 30s.
So the case of Thomas Sirk is very unusual, especially since he got unlucky twice. Similar to the case of Terell Suggs, although at a much earlier age.
In any event, Mr. Sirk’s surgery seem to have gone well per his Tweet from a few days ago:
Five month after he re-ruptured his surgically repaired achilles tendon, DeAngelo Hall seems to have completely recovered. On Twitter, he posted photos of himself doing a backflip!
It is rare to hear about an athlete who has surgery to repair a torn achilles tendon, and then re-ruptures the same achilles tendon while recovering. Many athletes re-rupture several years after the initial rupture, usually while playing their main sport. However, re-rupture rates in the weeks immediately following surgery are extremely low in the general populace, and considering that rich athletes have access to the best surgeons, equipment, doctors and physios, it almost never happens to them.
However, Washington Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who ruptured his achilles tendon in 2014 at the age of 30, re-ruptured it five weeks after surgery during a slip at home. A similar thing happened to Philadelphia Eagles’ left tackle Jason Peters in 2012.
This makes me even more pleased at choosing the non-surgical option to repair my achilles tendon rupture in 2013.
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