I recently had a very odd “injury” occur to my lower leg.
My confusion comes from whether or not it’s an achillies problem or if it’s my “extensor hallucis longus”(thank god for latin)
The symptoms were pretty straight forward. I had a lot of soreness in the area where my achilles met my heel. It was a general soreness when I dorsiflexed. No different than general soreness after a tough workout. But the actual “problem” was when I pointed my foot down. There was a terrible pain in the area behind my achilles. But I noticed it wasn’t my actual achilles. I put pressure on my achilles, I squeezed it, but there was no pain whatsoever.
The only thing that was in that area other than my achilles was the extensor hallucis longus. It’s directly behind the achilles, and it seems to be the only other thing that would be affected by plantarflexing the foot. It’s in the exact area where the pain is located.
How often does this muscle get strained, irritated, inflamed etc? It’s not something I hear about, and if it is, do people just describe it as something else making it seem more general?
I think you mean the FLEXOR Hallucis Longus, who’s primary job is to flex the big toe and second is to evert the foot.
It is actually quite common for injuries related to this muscle to occur, many instances are misdiagnosed as plantar fasciitis and achilles tendonitis.
In your situation you could probably ascertain if the FHL is the problem by placing your foot infront of a wall with the big toe extended against it and the rest of the foot flat on the ground. Then bend the knee as if to perform a soleus stretch, by extending at the big toe and flexing at the ankle you will be putting it directly under stretch and it should be able to replicate what you feel after training.
Make sure you get it seen to though regardless, Flexor hallucis longus plays a very important role in foot mechanics and can cause huge problems if not functioning correctly.
Nothing fancy in this suggestion, but sometimes there can be painful ramification jamming all around the foot and heel just from having the big toe slightly rotated. Although typically painful in the arch of the foot (with no pain at all associated with the actual big toe) the pain can appear in other areas. Pointing the toes downward feels like a knife going through the top of the foot. A decent chiropractor or physical therapist would check that option out early, or maybe just suggest they do anyway.