How Elite Athletes Recover From Achilles Injuries

There was a ton of exciting action on the competition floor at the 2024 Rogue Invitational in Aberdeen, Scotland. 

• As is often the case at elite athletic events, though, a few high-profile injuries cast a pall over the competition, with one event in particular being the culprit.

• To their credit, the Rogue organizers changed the workout for safety after Haapalainen’s injury, modifying the movement to burpee overs. But for the athletes involved, the damage was done.

Migała posted on social media and sat down with B. Friendly Fitness post-incident, saying she’ll be back stronger than ever. 

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Haapalainen echoed this sentiment, saying, “My focus goes into recovering as well as possible and getting back stronger.”

There is no shortage of prominent athletes who have experienced Achilles injuries, ranging from CrossFitters to NBA and NFL players. And while everyone’s recovery is different, there are some similar threads. 

We can look to athletes in other sports for clues on how Migała and Haapalainen could deal with their recovery.

The Worst Moment 

William Leahy was having a solid Semifinal weekend at the 2023 West Coast Classic. 

He had steadily improved over two events and was cruising through Event 3, a workout featuring Echo Bike calories, legless rope climbs, and 30-inch box jump-overs. 

That is until he fully ruptured his Achilles tendon on his final set of box jump-overs.

• “I knew as soon as it happened that I had ruptured my Achilles,” Leahy explained in an interview with the Morning Chalk Up. “The sensation of the ‘pop’ and feeling like I had kicked something behind me solidified it in my head. It was a split second that seemed to last for an eternity, and I had a million thoughts running through my head.”

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The same thing happened to Cole Sager one afternoon in his home gym.

• “My oldest son Jack will tell you, ‘Daddy fell off the box!’ I cried out because I knew instantly, but I wasn’t in pain,” Sager said. “It was a weird sensation, but it didn’t hurt, sting, or anything like that. It was just sudden, and I knew exactly.”

Watching Migała and Haapalainen at Rogue, you could see moments for both athletes similar to what Leahy and Sager described. 

• The most common thread that ties together Achilles injuries is an immediate understanding of what has happened. 

Most injuries require a doctor’s visit and an MRI to confirm a diagnosis, but most athletes just know with their Achilles. Sager knew exactly what Haapalainen had done when watching the feed from the Rogue Invitational.

• “When I watched it happen to Heinrich, I knew instantly,” Sager said. “As soon as it happened, he had the same reaction I had.”

The Realization

Before the surgeries and rehab comes the realization of the long road ahead. 

Every athlete has the moment of realization of the journey to follow, but it was deeper than just that for Sager.

• “The last four years have been heavy,” Sager explains. “Our children were born prematurely; I lost my best friend to brain cancer, we lost Lazar, and then the Achilles happened. For the four days between my injury and my surgery, the words that went through my head the most often were, ‘What the heck, what the heck?”

Even with an athlete’s history, nothing truly prepares you for the moment.

• Sager continued: “I have been an athlete for 24 years, the most competitive level that every season of life could offer, so I’ve mentally prepared for all of this, and injuries happen. I knew that, so I wasn’t too concerned about that, but I was just like, man…man.”

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The physical rebuilding begins quickly — and there is a lot to rebuild. 

Leahy immediately flew home for surgery after his injury at the West Coast Classic, but he had to wait nine days before going under the knife. 

That was the most challenging point in his recovery because there was nothing he could do during that time to move his recovery forward.

• Leahy described what happened next: “After surgery, I spent two weeks in a temporary cast with stitches, and I was not allowed to sweat. Once the stitches were taken out, I had four weeks of no-weight-bearing in a boot and on crutches.”

From then on, it became a slow and steady addition of exercises.

The Plan

Recovery from an injury like an Achilles tendon rupture requires patience and a plan, and elite athletes attack it like anything else — by training. 

• Sure, you aren’t slinging around 300-pound snatches and max-effort back squats, but every movement becomes a PR. 

The methodical nature of training finds its way into recovery.

• “Training is baked into my DNA — it is just who I am,” Sager explained. “It has been cool because every single week, there’s been a milestone to look at. Then you just check it off your list.”

He continued: “For instance, this week, I held an isometric contraction with my heel lifted off the ground. I had tried that for three and a half weeks straight, every night, and no luck. Then suddenly, I could!”

Even with a plan and patience, the “endpoint” or “full recovery” is often a moving target. We have seen this not only in CrossFit but in other professional sports. 

The Timeline

Matthew Betz is an injury expert for The Fantasy Footballers Podcast. He spends his days discussing NFL injuries and is well-versed in an athlete’s recovery from Achilles tears. 

Even if you return to competition in the NFL, there is no guarantee you will get to the level you were performing at previously. This could also be the case for CrossFit athletes. 

Hitting your Achilles with a high eccentric load under fatigue is a recipe for injury, and unfortunately, CrossFit athletes deal with this daily with the majority of movements we train.

• “Almost everything in CrossFit is related to two things: power and endurance,” Betz says. “Think about the movements — sprinting, box jumps, push press, cleans, jump rope. An athlete with a repaired Achilles will have worse endurance with repeated movements and reduced power for at least one year, maybe more.”

As Betz wrote in this article discussing the recovery of NFL players from Achilles injuries, several studies discovered that 30-40% of players who tore their Achilles never returned to play again in the NFL throughout the early 2000s and 2010s. 

• Those who did took at least nine months to get there, and most took up to a year. 

There have been more recent advances in Achilles repair, though. Years ago, most doctors used a procedure called “open repair.” This recovery was slow, and the tendon could not be loaded too quickly in rehab, or the surgery would be unsuccessful. 

• Currently, there is a newer technique called “internal bracing,” where the surgeon adds a bridge brace over the repaired portion of the tendon to lend extra support and stabilization. 

This means the athlete can begin the rehab process much earlier. Remember how quickly New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers was seen strolling across the field after his crushing Achilles injury during Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season? 

• It is unknown what version of the repair Migała and Haapalainen had, but if they had the “internal bracing” procedure, this could lead to a faster recovery.

Besides the technique used, the athlete’s age plays a part in the recovery timeline.

• “The 20-25-year-old range is the sweet spot where people come back,” Betz says. “If you are in your 30s, it’s a big uphill climb to get back to 80-90%.”

NFL running backs would be the most closely related position to a CrossFit athlete. They have similar power-orientated skills, and Betz thinks their recoveries could have similar timelines.

• Betz explains: “It’s usually the second year removed from surgery where athletes are truly ‘back.’ Also, thinking holistically, for a CrossFit athlete, if you have to take a year to rehab a major injury like this, you lose the other capacities you’ve developed over years of training (cardiovascular endurance, strength, and muscular endurance). So add that extra layer to this, and it’s very tough.”

Mindset Matters

Even with all that said, never count out a CrossFit athlete, who trains the mind just as frequently as the body. The key to recovery is to temper expectations and have a strong mindset.

• “It is easy to fall into a negative state of mind,” Leahy says. “It’s easy to quit. Easy to be unmotivated. Easy to think it’s a waste. You have to choose to be patient; that is the biggest thing I have learned from all of this.” 

As soon as he had his surgery, Sager cleared his mind and looked ahead to his recovery. Once he was physically repaired, he attacked rehab with a systematic nature.

• “The recovery process has been great and fun for me,” Sager says. “Don’t get me wrong — the first two weeks post-op were very painful and uncomfortable for the reasons that you would expect. Also, it was hard for the family because I was down and out, being waited on, and not super mobile.”

Sager continued, describing his mindset: “But it was like this — the pursuit of how I can do this in the best way I possibly can is the same thing as an athletic career. It is a micro version of it, and it’s been fascinating and fun for me to engage in.”

What’s done is done, and although it has been a long road filled with pain and frustration, lessons that may not have been learned any other way have been learned. Sager was forced to slow down.

• “Slowing down let me see these little moments in life with my son Jack that I was missing before,” he said. “It made me want to slow down more after this and make sure I am paying attention more.”

As Migała and Haapalainen start down the long road to recovery, Sager offers some advice.

• “I think the biggest thing is you have to be curious, but do not be greedy. It takes the time that it takes, and you have to be patient with that.”

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Featured image: @gabimiga / Instagram