When the achilles is swollen and hurts to run, is it better to stretch the calf, achilles, hammy, and ice? Or is it better to just not stretch, but keep icing?
Also, what about barefoot running? It doesn't hurt with the shoes off, only when I have the shoes on.
I didn't see anything about this in the Search function, and I'm new to the achilles stuff so any help is appreciated.
i'd stretch everything BUT the achilles, continue icing and do the eccentric stregthening exercises.
in fact, i wouldn't ever stretch the achilles. i'm sure someone will correct me if i'm wrong but it's a tendon i don't think it's designed to be flexible.
i think that stretching the muscles attached to the tendon takes some of the strain off of the tendon itself.
I've had a variety of achilles/heel issues over the past 9 months, and stretching is definitely something that PTs and orthopedists will tell you to do. My guess is that by stretching it you take strain off of it and allow it to heal. The things that have been really stressed for me are stretching both the calf and the achilles, basically a bent leg calf stretch. This may do more to stretch the muscles around the achilles than the achilles itself, along the lines of the previous poster that is very important that the muscles around the achilles be flexible, so hamstrings as well since the back of the legs are all connected in some way. Just make sure none of the stretching hurts, it's all got to be very gentle with an injury
In terms of running, my injury issues started from something really minor that turned into something very major from not dealing with it initially and continuing to run. If it hurts to run with shoes on, something isn't right and you should probably rest it. It sucks when it happens, but it is way better to take a week off of running than 4 months.
Good luck with it.
If it doesn't hurt with your shoes off that might be telling you something. Try different shoes.
Thanks for the input. It's actually been about 5 weeks of rest and it's still struggling.
As for the shoes, they're brand new. They're Wave Rider 10s and I've had at least 8 pairs of Wave Riders without any problems. I got this injury in a dead pair of Nikes.
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