Persistent achilles pain

JWag wrote:

I've had very tight calves/achilles for a long time. It has limited my running severely. Ive been slowly been working back in to running about 15 miles per week. Yesterday, i went for a run and it was really bothering me. I stopped and massaged it and tried again and it felt terrible, so i limped home. It felt like i was being stabbed in my ankle/achilles. Now it hurts really badly to walk down stairs or jump. I foam roll often and i see a chiropractor and a sports masseuse.

Thank you for sharing your personal journey.

Othdan wrote:

JWag wrote:

I've had very tight calves/achilles for a long time. It has limited my running severely. Ive been slowly been working back in to running about 15 miles per week. Yesterday, i went for a run and it was really bothering me. I stopped and massaged it and tried again and it felt terrible, so i limped home. It felt like i was being stabbed in my ankle/achilles. Now it hurts really badly to walk down stairs or jump. I foam roll often and i see a chiropractor and a sports masseuse.

Thank you for sharing your personal journey.

If you've ever been frustrated with a chronic injury, you'd know how absolutely uncool your reply was. Shame on you.

29029 wrote:

Othdan wrote:

Thank you for sharing your personal journey.

If you've ever been frustrated with a chronic injury, you'd know how absolutely uncool your reply was. Shame on you.

Any advice on where i should go from here?

Chronic Achilles problems can be devastating to a runner, especially an older runner. I have to ice my Achilles several times a day and perform eccentric heal drops daily just to muster 15 mpw & a few miles of speedwork. When I was younger and heavy on the road racing scene, I ran through the Achilles problems & self-medicated a lot with NSAIDs, which with long-term use impairs the healing process and makes things worse. And once the tendon progresses to tendinosis, tissue changes occur and is never the same as pre-injury.

Difficult injury for runners to effectively manage, and a permanent run stopper for many in their older years.

Eccentric heel drops. 3 x 15 each side, twice per day. It will solve your problems in a short time if you do them consistently.

Unless you have pending: World Championship Final/Olympic Final/NCAA Final/State High School Final, rest and recover. Do not try to run through the Achilles strain. I'd go over details of hot/cold therapy, but that is for athletes running through the strain.

Possible reasons: 1) low arches; 2) over use; 3) hill work outs too vigorous (see over use); 4) lack of Achilles stretching; 5) lack of femoris biceps (hamstring) stretching; 6) weak glutes; 7) weak femoris biceps.

I also am old but decided to have surgery (removed scar tissue) 5 years ago after 3 years of constant pain (and I mean every step of every run). I tried everything to mitigate pain without success. Pain was low called insertional AT. I have returned to normal running though slower due to age. I was reluctant to go under the knife but regret waiting so long. Good luck.