Jessica Ennis-Hill says that childbirth messed up her Achilles. Doctors, is that possibly true?

all of your tendons loosen up leading up to delivery (relatively small hole, giant baby head that needs to come out). Its not uncommon for pregnant ladies to have tendinous issues either during or after childbirth. I imagine someone of the caliber as Jessica Ennis a pretty finely tuned machine, so slight variations could lead to a variety of new problems.

All my gf's have got messed up tendons after we met.

It is called relaxin and it does happen. It didn't mess up her Achilles per se , it just made it more susceptible to damage as she trained.

yes, common for pregnant women to develop carpal tunnel and tendonitis.

It's not bogus. I am a mom and it happened to me, not the Achilles but Dequervain's tenosynovitis in both hands. Could hardly pick up baby. My doc sent me to a specialist to rule out rheumatoid arthritis and, well, he ruled it out. Diagnosed the tendon injuries, related it back to a near-fall I had in the last week of pregnancy in which I caught myself on a stair with both hands. The relaxin (yes, that's what it's called) that lets your pelvis get loose enough for a baby to get out affects all the other connective tissue. That leaves women in the last weeks of pregnancy or early weeks of motherhood prone to injury.

Connective tissue injury

Of course it's possible! I assume Ennis-Hill gained roughly 50 pounds while pregnant. Weight gain stresses Achilles tendons. This isn't complicated.

My wife isn't even a runner but has a screwed up achilles from having a baby.

Yes, for a couple of reasons:

1) Hormones during pregnancy cause increased laxity in the soft tissues. The purpose of this is to make popping the baby out a bit easier, but affects all soft tissues because the hormones are delivered systemically.

2) Because of 1, and some minor muscle wasting/weight gain during pregnancy, Ennis-Hill's lower body alignment probably changed slightly (hips and back, knees). Achilles injuries are usually not caused by a problem with the Achilles itself, but rather changes further up the motion chain that change its alignment. The Achilles is designed to be very strong in the direction of primary stress (up and down tension), so its fibers align to act in that way. If there is a change in the tendon's alignment, then the fibers start to get sheared, which they don't handle as well, resulting in injury.

ironside wrote:

Of course it's possible! I assume Ennis-Hill gained roughly 50 pounds while pregnant. Weight gain stresses Achilles tendons. This isn't complicated.

50 pounds?

Nice authoritative tone while being wrong, dolt.

Her achilles was injured before she was pregnant