I have had a problem with my left achilles ( strained) since April. It kinda went away, and started racing and it just came back. I think it formed scar tissues or somthing, then I kept running on it !
I saw the Physio 3 times so far and all they do is ultra sound, electric pulses with ice and a light massage and stretch. The pain just never goes away. The doctors says no running for 6 weeks, and almost gave me in a cast.
I qualifed for national jrs, which is in July 21 and I can’t ran on my foot. I am doing some bike work to stay in shape, but I need something more effective.
First off anyone know the best kind of treatment for the achielles ? I really need to get back on the track. I didn’t train for 9 months , 6 days a week to miss out on my biggest competiton yet !!
do a forum search on the ARP and fix your problem in 3 days. i had a 3 year hamstring problem, went thought every physical therapy u mentioned and then some and the ARP took care of my problem in 3 days. otherwise dont risk running unless your ready dont screw your carrer because of short sightedness there will be other big races.
The excercises in the link below combined with chiro, trigger point work and massage helped me. Have just got rid of an achilles prob. Took me around two weeks tho and no track work. Try substituting some pool work and maybe stadium steps if it isnt too painful.
The article and exercises from Walt Reynolds look like good stuff, so I’ll be trying them out. I did the eccentric reach with toes one for a while (I didn’t know about the other exercises at the time). Also it is pretty important to look for weaknesses higher up the chain as they say - in the medial glutes, adductors, lower back. Note that ‘weaknesses’ may include flaws in technique or imbalances in strength/flexibility (both L-R and agonist-antagonist).
It helps to be aware of what is stressing the tendon though. Elsewhere on CF.com you may read that rigid spike plates will put more stress on your achilles tendon. Weak feet may be another cause, and there are exercises and an EMS treatment that can help fix that.
For me I noticed more lateral movement on footstrike - an easy way to check is to just jump in place from on foot to the other and look for any difference between the healthy and injured sides. It was a very quick and early whip across and back that I noticed, so I had another piece of the puzzle and knew that I had to strengthen the muscles that stabilise the ankle upon footstrike (and all the way up the chain too). So I stopped using stretches that involved rotation at the ankle joint - they may target more of the calf muscle fibres, but they also were stressing the achilles. And lastly I came up with an exercise that seems to have helped quite a bit.
What I do is stand on one leg (the injured side) for a minute or two with the heel off the floor. Once I feel that the stabiliser muscles have fatigued (i.e. my balance deteriorates) then I do a couple of slow eccentric movements by lowering my heel slowly down to the floor. This exercise can be varied quite a bit to make it easier or harder - assisting any concentric movements, using pauses on the way down, pushing down with your arms (say on a chin-up bar that’s overhead), and using a step when you feel you can handle an increased range of movement. I also like to stretch the calves out at the end of this one.
So anyway, find out what is the likely cause of your injury first, then avoid the things that fit the injurious movement pattern, strengthen the weak areas (and usually you will have to stretch the antagonists to any weak muscles because this is likely a contributing factor). Also if you’re looking for a low impact alternative to running, consider deep water running and exercises. Hope this helps, but get a professional opinion that looks for the kinds of things I’ve mentioned, otherwise they may just end up treating the symptoms without addressing the cause.
The achilles problem probably came from chronic tension in the calf muscles, which placed the tendon under too much tension for too long, resulting in inflammation. You need to rest to let the inflammation die down, and you need to loosen up the calves and feet.
Pay special attention to the tibialis anterior and toe extensors, which usually get neglected in calf stretching. If those are tight, you’ll never be able to sufficiently loosen the gastroc and soleus, which will continue to re-tighten to balance out the tension.
I had exactly the same problem and you won’t believe how I fixed it! I went to the chiropractor and he adjusted my neck. No problems since. My spine was out of alignment causing tension on my achilles.
So of the physio people will have no clue what’s up. They’ll treat the symptoms of your injury, not the cause.
RK, that’s a good article indeed. It’s very important that the ankle is free to rotate when running – also very easy to manually check and “pop” it a few times before a workout. Sit on a chair, one leg over the other (so that the ankle is hanging over the other quad), one hand grabbing the heel and the other grabbing the front of the ankle, then just start to manually rotate the ankle (up-down-left-right in a circle). One might also want to stretch the hamstrings while manually moving the ankle from side to side.
Also, in accordance with what Flash posted, I have noticed a slight increase in potential achilles tendon sorness when the weather gets warmer and I start using sandals; this will increase pressure on the toe extensors and the tibialis anterior area.