Thank you for the reply… I’m getting better each day. The swelling is going down and I notice I have small bruise on the back of my leg right above the ankle where the pain is concentrated the most. The only major problem is that I feel extreme tightness from my achilles tendon, once the tightness goes away, I know I will be able to walk normally again.
As far as getting tested. My business recently landed a 4k contact, so I’m sure I can at least use some of that money to get the proper testing done.
BTW, I can move my injured foot in all directions with no pain or problem. It’s only when I need to walk, I have such tightness that I have to limp.
You’re right. Also, I’m 33 and I feel like I’m running out of time. I run for the love of it, but it would be nice if I could run for a season or two against the best in the world.
Wax is supposed to break down scar tissue by providing moist , deep heat specifically to tendons. I don’t think using paraffin is a secret for it’s use in injury treatment.
Years ago I was in clinic and met a young guy who had both his feet crushed by a machine at his family’s business. His feet were very seriously injured. As I was telling him about the wax he quickly replied he had already bought a paraffin bath and was using it multiple times a day and it was making a huge difference for him.
I remember going to Italy in the Spring of 1988. We were coming back from a meet in Sestriere ( Italy). At this facility I met Mennea who was jogging around the track doing a workout. There were whirlpools and cold dunk tanks and paraffin tanks as well.
That was a long time ago now and this kind of information is not new. People are reluctant to accept easy methods of healing or treatment in favor of treatments where cost is prohibitive.
Also, I’m getting better. My tendon is still swollen and stiff but it’s getting better. I picked up some Jarrow Joint builder today. I should have been using this all along.
Inflamation usually takes 10 days to settle down, which by my reckoning will be this Saturday. Find a good physio who is skilled at assessing injuries, so many athletes go down the wrong route of treatment because of incorrect diagnosis. I wish you all the best and hope its not as bad as you think it is.
Thanks for the reply Phil… and you’re spot on… My swelling is down considerately and I’m able to walk pretty good, though with a slight limp. I don’t want to get to ahead of myself, but I don’t think it’s bad as I thought it was because each day I’m getting better and better.
Good news, try getting some physio felt or thin foam for the heels of your shoes, make sure they are cut to the right shape. Try wearing them for a while to see if you feel a difference walking around, it should take the strain off your tendon and aid recovery. Once your shure the inflamation has gone get some massage on the calves to make sure they are not contributing to the problem. Keep us update will watch on with interest, good luck. A 15 year old girl I coach felt a slight pull on her achilles last night, she had the sense to tell me straight away, stopped the session and administered 20 minutes of ice. Fingers crossed for her as well, not an overtraining issue so right out of the blue.
Thanks for the tip… Yesterday, I was finally able to (standing up) push off my toes and raise my own body weight. I can’t do it yet with only the bad leg, but I can do it with both of my feet at the same time.
I say at this point, the only thing that is driving me nuts is the inability to sprint!!! God, what I would do just to be able to rip one 60m sprint!!! The weight room is not enough anymore to get my fix…
Also, I started the wax treatment. Feels good when my foot is encased in the heated wax. It feels like you’re wrapped in a super warm blanket in the middle of winter time. However, had I known beforehand, I would have just bought the wax by itself and a huge pan to put the wax in and just dunk my leg into it because the heating unit is just to small for a 230lbs grown man such as myself. Most of the heating units I seen on the market are made to fit female feet and hands and there is not enough height for the wax to go above you’re ankle.
Wow, my leg is feeling much better! I’m able to walk now at 80% speed (with a SLIGHT limp). My tendon is still tight which is the only thing that is causing the slight limp. All swelling is down except for a small puffy area around the bottom of the ankle area…
What I feel helped my leg the most (I feel) is hot and cold contrast therapy! I used a bucket of ice cold water and another bucket with hot tap water and went back and forth for 30 min. After that, I either did the paraffin wax, self message, or sometimes even both… I’m not taking anything other then the MSM supplement that I posted above. and Gaspari nutrition multivitamin.
At this rate, I think I might be able to start slow tempo on the grass in 2-3 weeks… Also, I think I’m going to change up all my training where all my runs are on grass. I’m out here in the suburbs and many of the tracks are closed off and sometimes I drive 20 minutes to a track only to be kicked off, or find out the track is closed. On the other hand, I’m surrounded by so much open grass fields it’s crazy and I don’t have to worry about anybody bothering me…
• I have no more tightest in my tendon, I can walk up and down stairs, or uneven grass, without any pain.
• My foot is still slightly swollen around the ankle area.
• I found out what caused the slight limp that I still have. I have little push off power from my injured leg when I’m walking. I found out by using the calf extension machine. In my last entry, I used the calf extension machine and I was not even able to do 10lbs, but yesterday, I was able to do 10lbs for 20 reps, so at this rate, my injured leg will be slowly regaining its power to push off properly little by little each day. I’m getting better, but at the rate I’m going I’m not going to be fully healed for about 3-6 months…
On a positive note, my lifts are going up… I rotate my main lifts (decline,incline flat) in the bench, and yesterday, I made a record 315 decline bench. I have never been so spent from doing an upperbody workout only… I only did 1x315, and I had to sit down for 2-3 minutes because it was such a shock to my system… Even last night I had a hard time sleeping because my CNS was so awake, and today I feel so tired and sore (inside of my arms)… Now that I’m in the 300’s, it really puts 365,385 or even 450lbs in perspective…
Good news… Yesterday I was finally able to start jogging again on the grass! I did 10 100m slow jog on grass. I thought I would be winded and out of shape but I felt fine and could have did 10 more if I really wanted to.
My injured tendon compared to my good leg is still large though. Everything else about my injured leg is ok… I walk about 95% normal but my jog gait still has a slight limp though… 2-3 more months and I should be able to start running again.
Anyhow, last week, for the first time I was able to sprint again! It felt so good to feel my body move forward with power and feel the wind go by my ears.
I was doing 100m jog on grass and decided to push a little bit just to feel the acceleration and I was able to push off with my injured leg with no problems. I was also able to walk up a very steep hill on my toes to walk to my car and felt no pain.
I’m sure that I will be able to sprint again with the way my leg is healing… As of right now my injured leg looks normal, but my injured achilles tendon is still 2/3 times the size of my good tendon. It’s really thick! I just half to wait about another 2 months.
Also, just want to say that not sprinting has been effecting my mood. I have been dealing with slight depression off and on and my sex drive is raging from not being able to sprint. Sprinting really keeps me sane!!! Lifting weights, even 300lbs BP, does nothing for me…
Still at it!!! Lifts are going up in the gym across -the- board. I will post some new stats when I start to level off… Truth be told, I wish I trained at a Olympic facility with other athletes as I’m in a local gym and anything over 275 just boggles the mind of people for the size I am. It’s crazy, 315 is no big deal now but to everybody else they view you as the strongest man on earth or something. It gets tiring having to explain to people it’s no big deal, or they want to talk and talk about who benches who and they take away concentration. There IS one guy at my gym who IS a freak, he’s a huge black dude with a 800 bench during comp season, but plays around with 500 for fun. He’s my mentor now (though I keep close to what Charlie said about weights). Crazy thing is he knows guys even stronger then him… He told me he use to train with a guy who could squeeze a can of soda with one hand and burst it open!!!
Anyhow, I’m going 8x200 tempo runs and running A’s to maintain fitness with no problem. I feel like a champ! 30m sprints are out of the question though… I’m much stronger then BEFORE I got hurt and now with my leg still needing time to heal, I’m not taking any chances… Soooooo, I’m going to start running a modified LONG to SHORT program. 600’s, 500’s 400’s… That said, I’m going to miss the excitement of running 150’s. I’m just not ready yet…
My tendon is still swollen and stiff but it’s getting better. I picked up some Jarrow Joint builder today. I should have been using this all along.