Does Achilles Tendonitis Ever Go Away?

For me it was a crap load of eccentric heel drops and moving to higher drop shoes. I still feel a little agitation in the morning sometimes after faster stuff but it has largely dissipated after struggling with it for a few months about 18 months ago.

I’ve been dealing with it for almost 2 years myself. I’ve never stopped running, even if the pain was a lot or my calves would tighten up. I would stop mid run or when the pain started stretch, keep running, stretch and so on.

The key is to manage the pain. Yes you’ll have some pain, soreness and even tight Achilles/calves. But have a routine in place to Graston the calves, roll the ankles, warm soaks on the lower legs and yes night splints. I’ve been doing what I can when I can to mitigate the pain and i can run through it just enough or if it hurts take a day off if I need to.

Manage the pain would be the best way to put it tho

I agree on the eccentric heel drops. I do 3 sets of 15 on each leg, morning and evening. Takes about 20 minutes a day total. I have stopped doing the exercises a few times, and the tendinitis just comes back. As long as I do my exercises, it stays away. Consistency has been the key for me.

Yes, it really can. Take care.

Mine didn’t get any better — ANY BETTER, until I started doing 3x30 drops, and progressed to doing a few sets of 40 every morning. Really count to ten on each eccentric drop. Once I bumped up from doing 20-30 a day to doing 100-200 a day, mine was totally better in three weeks.

I second what everyone says about heel drops. I tweaked mine, left it untreated, and it lead to some of the itus. As a result I pulled both hammies due to weird overcompensation. It's only been like 6 months since it started for me, but it's 95% gone. I do weighed heel drops. I stand on a step, 40lb weight on one hand, one foot waaaay up on my toes, as high as I can go. I go down slowly and go as far down as possible, until it kinda hurts. 2 sets of 10 does the trick.

Cool to see the successful recoveries here, and interesting (to me) that many people found heel drops so helpful.

In my case, achilles problems (on both sides) were part of a recurring injury cycle that kept me hobbled at best for over a year. I tried heel drops but for me they only aggravated things. I'm guessing I was probably doing them wrong, so I'm not saying don't do them, but make sure that you're doing them properly.

In my case, what seems to have helped was (1) extended rest and (2) doing almost all of my running on trails. I'm still not very fit at this point (and was never very fast) but I've gotten back to the point where I'm training pain-free.

If your Achilles is hurting more than three months (general estimate, could be more or less), then you are likely going to start to have some tendinopathy. At that point, it will never go away, you just have to manage it. This can be done through eccentric exercises, orthotics, night splint, stability and/or high heels toe drop shoes. If these don't work, I would look into the Tenex procedure. It's a minimally invasive procedure to debride the tendon of diseased tissue. I just had it done after months of morning pain that would flare up from walking too much at work, or from running even just a mile. Recovery time is incredibly short and on average, you can start running on an AlterG treadmill around 6 weeks post op in physical therapy.

drbop wrote:

I agree on the eccentric heel drops. I do 3 sets of 15 on each leg, morning and evening. Takes about 20 minutes a day total. I have stopped doing the exercises a few times, and the tendinitis just comes back. As long as I do my exercises, it stays away. Consistency has been the key for me.

+1

I had achilles problems for years. The weighted heel drops are the answer. But also keep the calfs very flexible by foam rolling/massage.

If you have had a bad episode, unfortunately I think it will always be lurking under the surface. The heel drops etc will have to be done for life, or as long as you run. You may find that some things trigger it more than others, in which case, better to avoid them.

I had pain for about 5 years, but that was 10 years ago now. I now run without any issues, but if I stop the heel drops/raises and massage, I start to feel a niggle coming back.

Yes, mine only lasted for ~6 months and has been totally cured for years.

LIPUS treatments and subsequent strength training eradicated my achilles tendinopathy.

I got PRP on my achilles last year which fixed it enough to run every day without much pain, only morning stiffness for almost a year (I'd say it was 80-85% good most of the time- wouldn't have felt comfortable trying to run in spikes). Kept up with heel drops, calf raises, etc. but I am back where I started before I got the treatment. Hopefully you can have better luck with managing your achilles.

TL/DR Heel drops aren't a cure-all, be aware of your own unique situation. Stretching, warm-up, and adding training stress more slowly may help.

I had achilles tendonitis on and off for 2 years. I've been training for the last 8 months without issues. To add a slightly different perspective than everyone else. I don't think heel drops will work for everyone. I tried the heel drops and they may have helped a little, but they certainly didn't fix the problem, and the tendonitis would come back. What seemed to work for me was adding lengthening, warming up properly, and adding stress in my training more slowly, after trying the heel drops for months.

Before I run I roll out my calves, and do some warm-up exercises like glute bridges, runners touch, etc. After I run I would stretch my calves, both straight leg and bent knee. I would hold each stretch for 2-3 minutes. Additionally, I made sure to progress my training very slowly. I only ever increased the training level when I knew I was ready. Usually 4-8 weeks at a given training level without issue before progressing.

Some other small things I've tried is I wear zero-drop shoes as my everyday (non-running) shoes to help lengthen or prevent shortening my calf/achilles. I wear socks around the house to keep my calf/achilles warm. And if I get the slightest flare up of calf soreness I use compression on my calves. I also avoid low drop shoes and definitely avoid spikes for running.

I've been trying to do heel drops with my bad foot/achilles — but I can't even do 1 without using a ton of hand support.

Any ideas on how to strengthen it?

I tried heel drops for a long time without much success. Then learned that the lower achilles (insertional) tendonitis I was dealing does not respond well to heel drops, unlike mid-calf achilles tendonitis.

Changing to isometric heel hovers, with heel raised off the floor, knee bent, and held on that leg for 1-5 mins (building over time) was extremely helpful.

Also, stretching on slant board, cross friction self-massage, and massage gun have all helped.

runner1234590 wrote:

2 years ago, this injury kept me out of a full season without being able to run without agonizing pain. Now, after years of rehab, rebuilding my tendons, I am able to workout and train well, but can no longer wear spikes in training, or do too much speed. The tendon is always very tender in the morning and generally feels weaker in one side than the other.

How do I make the pain go away for good? Anyone here with experience? Night Splints?

Yes I have had it twice and it went away completely in 12 weeks both times and only took 2 weeks of running both times. 3x15 eccentric heel drops on each side so I guess 3x30, twice a day and if it gets too easy but some weights in a backpack

My achilles is fine after an easy 10 mile run but if I do a workout or a race it stiffens up everytime. I don't get it.

I suggest getting a smaller diameter foam roller. I think a normal one is about 6” and I found a 3” approx one at Target. I got it for traveling, you never want to be away from a foam roller if you have Achilles issues.

What I found was the smaller diameter meant the roller dug a lot harder and worked a lot better.

Also, do those heel drops with weight.