running on achilles injury

Sorry to bump my own post, but I would love to get some feedback on this.

I generally think rest and alternating ice/ heat is the best cure.

However, I once got a terrible case (could hardly walk, had it for almost 3 months). It didnt go away with about 2 months of now running. After two month of cross training I ran a marathon on it. I took two weeks off after the marathon and when i started back up running i was pain free for the first time in four months.

Thanks. People have been giving me a lot of different advice.

The thing about achilles problems is there are a multitude of cures for it and a number of things that will potentially aggravate it... and a lot of these contradict each other.

When I hurt my achilles last year I got different advice from every person I asked about it, but I figured out the way to fix it on my own.

My suggestion to you is this, use the advice from other people to make your own decisions. Ultimately you are your best doctor and you will know what will work and what won't work. If running on it makes it feel better then give it a whirl. If that doesn't start to make it feel better or starts making it worse start thinking about trying some other approaches to training.

Cheers.

I've had an achilles problem for a bit less than four years. I find that when I take any time off, it gets worse- it seems to tighten up. I always forget to take care of it when I'm not running, since I'm almost always taking time off for another injury, so I can't comment on rest+ stretching, PT, ice and all that.

I will say, however, that I have had success the past week by icing immediately after I run, 15-20 minutes of ice, 15 minutes off, then more ice. I've also found that icing in this fashion, ice, rest, repeat, is far, far more effective than just icing once. I imagine this is true with all injuries, but the difference is dramatic with my achilles.

So, if nothing else, ice immediately after running and ice at least twice in succession. As I type this, my achilles is feeling consistently better than it has in a couple years or so, and this advice doesn't really contradict any other treatments. There are a lot of other good ways to heal an achilles, as another poster mentioned, like eccentric calf raises, but which, at the same time, can also aggravate the injury. So ice a lot and ice smart, then think about other stuff.

Peter

rest is a bit overrated. have to go with activity on this one.

so, where exactly, is your achilles pain? sometimes the specific spot of the injury can provide some clue as to solving it. is there a bump of any kind? sometimes it can be as easy as finding a shoe with a better heel counter.

http://www.feetrelief.com/feetrelief/heel_counter.html

some other factors to consider: your age, your weight, your running style, lower leg muscle imbalances, sugar intake, nutrition.

anyway, give me some more info and I'll try to help.

ds

Run on it! BUT first you have to discover what relieves the pain. Either a high arch support OR high heel cushions will take enough pressure off that you can run. I used to have to put so many heel pads in that my heel was coming out of the heel cup. I had to reverse the eyelets at the top of my shoe strings (string them from the outside in rather than from the inside out on the top eyelet) in order to keep the shoes from coming off. Add padding to the heels a little bit at a time until you find the heighth at which there is no pain.

Shoe brand comes in here too. For example, I have to stay away from Asics (Tigers in my day) because they make their heel cup lower than most and cause strain.

don't run for 6-8 weeks. this is a stubborn injury. do some x-training to get bloodflow going.

after 25 years of running and a few instant onset injuries and steady loss of flexibility my right AT gave me hobbling pain. i had eswt which worked like magic.

strangely though, my left AT was sorer after a 2 month break of no running recently to heal a fractured kneecap. it's loosening up now, so maybe in this case running helps it.

Tendons and ligaments respond best to tension and blood flow (for nutrients and oxygen).

By all means, do not immobilize the ankle. Running may be too painful and might provide too much tension, but walking, biking, etc may help.

I found that some patients respond to tension at night, like using a night splint. It keeps the foot in dorsiflexion and keeps the gastrosoleus complex from tightening overnight.

I am 27 (just barely), 5'10 and 130lbs (actually 140 now because of all of the down time). I am a very slight overpronator and I tend to run on my toes. There is a slight blump on my achilles, but it has gone down with massage. And the pain is concentrated on the inside of my achilles toward the base.

I appreciate any tips that people have. Are there any dietary tips that people have for aiding recovery? I've been doing eccentric raises every other day and running 20 minutes easy everyday followed by ice. Does anyone know how long this typically lasts? I've been out for 2 months, the first of which I took pretty much completely off. By now there's more stiffness than pain, but it still hurts once in a while.

icing and rest are definitely key, but if you actually want to get over this injury, you should do what I have just successfully done over the past few weeks:

3 sets of ten for each leg--with your foot half on a stair tread, stretch your heel down like you were doing a calf stretch and once it's all the way stretched down, use your calf muscle to slowly bring the heel back up to horizontal.

this comes from tim noakes, m.d., the lore of running. I did this one once a day for just a few days and the achilles started getting better for the first time in two months and it has continued well since then. just keep up the exercises and probably it's best to do this one after you've warmed up a bit.

I also heard from a runner that the foam pad massagers of the soleus?, which you can get online work really well--you massage the muscle probably just under the calf, which promotes blood flow. but definitely try the exercise above and continue to ice every day.

Oh yes and I've been doing that too, and it seems to help ward off achilles stiffness in the morning. Also, I loved Arrested Development; RIP.

milers left out wrote:

I've been doing eccentric raises every other day and running 20 minutes easy everyday followed by ice.

You need to be doing the eccentric raises twice a day every day...

ok that helps, thanks, milers

pronation is probably the key to unraveling this problem.

do you get any metatarsal pain as well? any IT pain on that side? or have a narrow heel?

then, w/ rubber tubing, strengthen the anterior tibialis and the peroneous longus, a lateral stabilizer. technically you can do both strengthen those muscles and stretch your calves this way because the calf will relax when the antagonist muscle group is flexing.

from your description cant rule out limb length issues (sore achilles would be long side). could also be dueovercorrection if you had too much of an orthotic.

my guess thoough is you pronate, guard the leg, and jam the spot on the achilles with a sharp torsion strain.

and cant rule out bursitis, but the same nutritional ideas will serve.

anyway achilles are made out of collagen primarily.

collagen is a type of protien matrix that kinda winds like a rope, so any torque or twisting or eccentric force could cause damage.

so will elevated blood sugar levels, so cut back on processed sweets and try smaller meals. grazing not gorging. antioxidants are natural anti inflammatories, as is the mineral magnesium.

since youre a kid my hunch is a heel cup might help solve the problem. first it will stabilize the heel a bit , protect the lower achilles from irritation. just avoid the extra soft visco-elastic ones which in your case might add instability. you want a fairly firm heel cup. the slight lift on the cup will also take some pressure off the achilles.

here's a link on collagen. collagen production is stimulated by vitamin C. as I recall, proline is one of the more important amino acids for repairing tendons.

http://au.health.yahoo.com/041101/25/1uvl.html

Thank you very much for the detailed reply. I was just considering getting a heelp cup. Is it common to have both achilles tendonitis and bursitis? Because I seem to show symptoms of both--there is a small bump on my tendon, but I also have swelling and point sensitiveity lower on my heel after I run.

What I can tell you, with no exception: Do NOT race/run in spikes. This is how I badly injured mine, requiring surgury.

Regarding the blood-flow.... those people have a point. Except that you can gain the blood-flow through other exercises that won't continue hurting the achilles. I.E. biking, swimming, etc... I've even found that lifting weights for a 2nd workout helps my injuries a lot and 100% recommend cross-training for this purpose when injured.

See a foot and akle specialist. I actually went just yesterday to get my achilles looked at. He got my foot mold and sent it to get some orthotics made. I trust him, so I hope this works.

ankle**

typo..

Yes, I actually injured mine running a 5k on the track in spikes as well. I'm going to avoid them for a while.