Tyrese Haliburton’s injury has left no one indifferent.
When the Achilles tendon ruptures, it creates one of the most shocking images in sports. And its recovery represents one of the greatest clinical challenges. (In fact, how thermography can assist in that process is something we could also talk about.)
But today, we’ll focus on how thermography might have helped before the injury occurred. We’re not going to fall into the trap of opportunism by claiming it could have saved him.
We don’t offer magic solutions. But we do have criteria.
Because the reality is that tendons don’t rupture overnight. They change — morphologically, vascularly, thermally, and more.And while those changes are invisible to the human eye, they can leave a thermal footprint before the injury happens.
Infrared thermography can provide objective signs that something is changing:
In tendons like the Achilles — where demand is maximal and vascular supply is minimal — ignoring these small changes is a real risk.
The major issue with many clinical tests is the time they require (like ultrasound), or the heavy dependence on the clinician’s interpretation.
That’s where thermography comes in: in less than 30 seconds you can analyze the image, and in under a minute you get an objective result — one that is trackable over time.
What if we had monitored the thermal behavior of Haliburton’s tendon week by week? What if we had detected a change in the thermal curve after load spikes?
We’ll never know.
But we do know that waiting for the tendon to rupture before acting is already too late.
Figure 1. Achilles tendon injury 7 weeks post-surgery. Injury 5 months post-surgery. Injury 1 year post-surgery with complications.The technology exists.
The key lies in knowing how to implement it.
How Thermography Assists in the Recovery Process
An Achilles tendon rupture leaves a detectable and measurable thermal footprint throughout the recovery process.
According to Gómez-Carmona et al. (2020), persistent thermal asymmetries may indicate active inflammation or an altered tissue regeneration process. ThermoHuman enables objective and non-invasive quantification of these asymmetries, allowing precise monitoring of the injured tendon’s evolution.
Figure 2. RTP (Return to Play) control block using thermography in a tendon 5 weeks post-surgery.
This information is key for tailoring clinical interventions, as it helps identify whether recovery is following a normal physiological path or showing signs of complications such as fibrosis, overload, or chronicization.
Furthermore, as noted by Tumilty et al. (2019) and Almeida Ferreira et al. (2022), thermal variations under functional load — especially localized cooling linked to hypoperfusion or inactivity — can signal risks of relapse or maladaptation to rehabilitation work. Thanks to its ability to compare thermal patterns under different loading or treatment conditions, ThermoHuman offers dynamic control of the tendon’s response to training. This allows professionals to adjust workloads in a personalized way, avoiding excessive stress and facilitating a safer, more efficient return to play.
If you want to see how we use thermography in elite sports teams — based on clinical criteria and real data — request your implementation guide.
References:
ThermoHuman has had the support of the Funds of the European Union and the Community of Madrid through the Operational Programme on Youth Employment. Likewise, ThermoHuman within the framework of the Export Initiation Program of ICEX NEXT, had the support of ICEX and the co-financing of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Thermohuman has received funding from the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), in participation with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), for the R+D activities involved in creating a new tool, based on thermography, for the prediction and prevention of rheumatoid arthritis. See project detail.
