eternal achilles, how to not run

Do you have bilateral achilles tendonitis? Have you taken any quinolone antibiotics (ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin) recently or before you injury? I ask this because bilateral tendonitis is not that common and quinolone antibiotics can cause bilateral tendinopathy.

Focus on the cause (biomechanics) and not the symptoms of your achilles problems.

shith,

To address your question about alternative activities, I would suggest that you start search for an activity that helps fulfill whatever niche your running filled in your life (competition, fitness, psychological stability, etc.). I was unable to run for approximately six months last year and into the early part of this year. The injury was unrelated to the achilles tendon but that is unimportant (it was a bad sciatic nerve issue). I tried running over and over but it was just to painful for me to enjoy it. Not surprisingly as my running ceased I grew very restless. I started walking long distances, tooling around unfamiliar locations on a bike and staying up late at night for no apparent reason other than to burn off exess energy. I recall a night when I walked four or five miles in pouring sleet to get to a friend's house... I refused a ride home later on that night. Eventually I realized that this was happening and that I needed running or at least a temporary replacement in order to balance out my energy. So I started swimming. I had very little experience in it before but I wanted to get better. It started off with adding on more yards each time I went until I was swimming two miles non-stop. I started doing workouts and my times got better and better. My technique improved and I was suffeciently exercising my body so that I no longer needed midnight walks to get to sleep. I bought a new bike and started cycling more seriously and used my old bike as a commuter. As a result I was exercising more than when I was running full time and I was training for results. Ultimately I started running again, but I continued swimming and cycling and did some triathlons early this summer to fulfill my desire to compete. The return to running was not nearly as arduous after doing all of the cross training... I was far more fit after this layoff than in previous much shorter ones. My running fitness came back incredibly fast and I am now able to run as fast as before with much less training.

Though this switch to other sports was not a perfect replacement for me, it did appease my body's natural desire to move and compete. I will return to running exclusively in the near future but I will always supplement my schedule with some cross training because I enjoy it and it keeps me fit without the added stress of running extra miles.

Make sure that whatever activity you do end up doing doesn't adversely affect your injury. Swimming promotes a vast amount of ankle flexibility which could initially feel painful, but may ultimately aid in recovery. Cycling may help or harm the area... consult a physical therapist or a sports doc. You can get over this injury. Just be vigilant in your therapy and stay fit during the time off.

On a side note. An interesting story I heard (from a sports doctor) regarding the achilles tendon involves the discovery of ecentric exercising as the best treatment for such injuries. Apperntly a physical therapist or athletic trainer in one of the Scandanavian countries (Sweden maybe) came down with a severe achilles injury. No treatment seemed to work so he wanted to resort to surgery. The problem is that the country's health care system was socialized which meant that lower priority operations would be put on a long waiting list. His solution to this problem was to make his a much higher priority injury... by tearing the tendon. The best way to accomplish this (or so he thought) was to do massive amounts of ecentric calf exercises. Long story short, his achilles injury continued to get better and better as he tried harder and harder to make it worse. He didn't need surgery.

Good luck,

Eric B.

less is more with the Achilles.

stop contracting the calf muscle and stretching.

what you want to do is simple:

at night before bed, alphabet with your toes. Also, push your heel out, basically the opposite movement of contracting your calf. Your goal is to make your calf as long as possible, as unkenyan as possible, and remove as much stress from the achilles as possible.

In the morning, do the ABC's again, and perhaps lay down for an hour with little or no movement. After your mobility has returned get up and walk around.

Before a run: Heat, Mobility, light stretching(not alot, just maybe 10 seconds or so of it, DO NOT stretch the achilles, only the calf. DO NOT bend your knee when you stretch. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT)

Post run: very light mobility, ICE, REST (no walking to much), COMPRESSION, and Elevation.

On a down week, calf raises. These are good:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/betteru22.htm

Also, protein. Eat it. Eat more of it.

Nothing with anti-biotics.

I'd like to focus on the biomechanics and have been since I started experimenting with it a few weeks ago - first the injury has to calm down a little though. I get to 25:00 and my left one starts aching more and more until it's impossible to maintain stride without limping. I have been avoiding that, "if you can't run without limping, you can't run" is an old rule of my.

Eric - that sounds exactly like that sort of thing I'd do. I've been blowing it off with push-ups and crunches so far. I'd like to investigate cycling, but the start up costs are high.

I have been stretching my calf extensively, but also my achilles - I'll cut that out, thanks for the advice. I'm trying anything I can get my hands on.

Don't be deterred by the high cost of brand new bicycles. Someone who is just getting into the sport doesn't need to spend thousands on a brand new bike. I purchased my first bike from a yard sale for $25. I subsequently put a couple thousand miles on it. With a hundred or so dollars in upgrades you can turn a properly fitting, lighly used yard sale bike into a great starter. You just have to educate yourself a little before you go out shopping. But definitely start searching local yard sales; you might be surprised at what you find. Just look for anything less than 15 years old in your size by any of the reputable makes (Raleigh, Trek, Specialized, LeMond, etc.).

I agree. Don't buy a high-end bike. Just get a low-end road bike and look for your local race-rides with hills. you'll be surprised at how strong you are climbing compare to rest of them. It shouldn't hurt your achilles.

But while you are not running, now is the time to focus on the eccentric and other stregthening exercises so when you are ready to return to running, you'll have resolved the weaknesses that caused the problem to begin with.