Jayson Tatum, the star forward for the Boston Celtics, returned to the court earlier this year after rupturing his Achilles’ tendon. The road to recovery was long and brutal: weeks on crutches, months in an orthopedic boot and a relentless program to rebuild his weakened calf muscle and his sense of confidence. Now, you can watch it all in a multipart series on YouTube.

I first encountered Mr. Tatum’s videos about his injury on social media as I lay on the couch with my own foot in an orthopedic boot. I was scrolling through a Reddit forum for people who, like me, had ruptured an Achilles’ tendon. The group was buzzing with excitement over Mr. Tatum’s updates. He seemed to be recovering rapidly: “Is this possible for non-athletes like us?” one user wrote.

The comeback from injury has become another experience that athletes — from superstars to fitness influencers with more modest followings — package, polish and share online to keep fans and sponsors happy. Documenting the return to play isn’t a new phenomenon, but the persistent pressure to maintain a personal brand on social media has made it more common for athletes to share regular dispatches from the sidelines and narrate their recoveries for an audience.

At times, it can feel like some professional athletes posting recovery content might be speed-running a course that’s meant to be more plodding — at least for us regular people.