Why bother running if you have to go through all of this therapy? ice/run/stretch/heel raises, etc
Why bother running if you have to go through all of this therapy? ice/run/stretch/heel raises, etc
Keep your calves loose, don't wear shoes that mess with your ankle motion in ways bad for you as an individual, stay hydrated, don't overtrain, and you'll do pretty well. Don't think of the prevention as therapy. Think of it as supplementary training you should be doing anyway. Most professional athletes do stretches and routines as if they had every injury in the book, because those ranges of motion and exercises prevent it from ever happening.
+1 to the Massage therapy responses. I have been getting my calves worked on a lot more and my achilles has been improving. Also, focus on your hip flexors like someone else already said. Your problem isn't your achilles necessarily, it is more likely higher up but the achilles takes the brunt of the pounding.
Trigger point therapy worked for me. Just go to the book store and read the part about the lower leg. No need to by the book.
Long periods of rest such as 6 months to 1 year definitely help. But most people don't have the time or patience for that.
active rest dick bag... stretch ice hard massage advil 4 times a day, no wussy shiiizzz
Bumping this thread since it intrigues me. Seems like a lot of people have found success with still running, but lower mileage and/or intensity.
Does anyone else have thoughts? What about other kinds of tendonitis (i.e. peroneal, posterior tibial, etc.)?
I had this in college. Awful. I took about a month on no running followed by two months of light running. This helped but did not get rid of the problem...
The thing that helped the most was the incline board. My trainer recommended standing on the incline board before and after every run- 15 min. I adhered to this every single day for the next three years and still do it today when my legs feel tight. Never had a recurrence in the tendonitis with swelling, pain, etc. I didn't believe this would have such an impact at first but I am a true believer in the effectiveness of this stretching out your legs and preventing the stress / pulling on the Achilles that started the whole mess. Much cheaper that a massage therapist as well.
I've found rest makes you feel better just walking around, but no amount of rest ever fixed the achilles pain for running. I took 5 months off one time, and my first run back the pain was exactly the same.
What has actually helped, is rolling out calves, stretching them, and also stretching hamstrings, glutes, and rolling IT band. Any of those areas getting tight, and the achilles pain comes back. Also number one thing: limit hilly runs to ONCE A WEEK, if you MUST, then twice. Never two days in a row. Stay flat, roll, stretch, and you will likely start to finally feel relief.
asdfsdf wrote:
Why bother running if you have to go through all of this therapy? ice/run/stretch/heel raises, etc
Because some people like to run.
It does suck to do so much extra to be able to run.
But not running at all sucks more.
Laughlin wrote:
Bumping this thread since it intrigues me. Seems like a lot of people have found success with still running, but lower mileage and/or intensity.
Does anyone else have thoughts? What about other kinds of tendonitis (i.e. peroneal, posterior tibial, etc.)?
It took me a long time to get into the winning side with my Achilles. About 12 months.
I battled through it for about 3 years and it would get a little better sometimes but really it was painful constantly. I raced through this including running low 1:50 times etc. I did the conservative therapies such as ice and eccentric exercises, stretching the lot. Didn't help me because when i ran hard track sessions or raced the 800m it would just get worse again.
I've had about a year off for other injury troubles (might kick in running altogether) and both Achilles are starting to feel normal again. I've been doing the exercises and stretching with rest from running now, and they are a lot, lot better.
At once point my Achilles got so bad that I couldn't walk around that much and a holiday of mine was really ruined by me being physically disabled by it.
Yikes. Seems like this is pretty bothersome to say the least. Seems like the common response is that rest doesn't really help it get better. I took about a week and a half off and was told by the podiatrist I needed new running shoes (had been using my old ones since Christmas time). I'm hoping that this will be enough to let it heal on its own.
I'm presently in the middle of this and around week 10/12 or so of recovery
first 8 weeks I took completely off, then the next couple weeks tried to do 3-6 mpw
have the wonderful combo of intersertional achilles tendonosis [back of heel] and plantar fasciitis [these two conditions oppose eachother]
no end in site
mustache ride wrote:
I'm presently in the middle of this and around week 10/12 or so of recovery
first 8 weeks I took completely off, then the next couple weeks tried to do 3-6 mpw
have the wonderful combo of intersertional achilles tendonosis [back of heel] and plantar fasciitis [these two conditions oppose eachother]
no end in site
Get some prolotherapy.
race man 4444 wrote:
eccentric calf raises I get. but what do you mean, Mr. Mountain, by working on my hips/pelvis?
Anatomy trains my friend.
Laughlin wrote:
Yikes. Seems like this is pretty bothersome to say the least. Seems like the common response is that rest doesn't really help it get better. I took about a week and a half off and was told by the podiatrist I needed new running shoes (had been using my old ones since Christmas time). I'm hoping that this will be enough to let it heal on its own.
For me, resting has allowed my conservative therapies to start 'working'. That's the eccentric calf drops, stretching and hip exercises also.
If you do an event like the 400/800/1500 or any training that involves intensity, you have no chance of letting the Achilles heal. In my experience you have to stop all that intensity/fast paced running and do the exercises. For me eventually even walking and jogging hurt so I had to stop any kind of exercise to let them heal. It's the repeated damage that makes Achilles injuries turn chronic.
How long it takes will depend how long you have been damaging them for. Read about Bekele, more or less 6 years of rehab for him.