Conference on Saturday. Achilles Tendonitis. What do.

College Running Other Divisions

12 years ago 10/24/2011 9:38pm EDT

I have four weeks left of my junior collegiate cross country season, and I am currently the third scorer for my team. We have conference this Saturday in which we have a legitimate shot at winning, and state in four weeks. Our first two guys are around the top five nearly every race, leaving me and the rest of the group to close the gap.

I really want to help my team as best as I can in the next few weeks, but I've developed painful tendonitis/tendinosis in my left achilles. It's been fairly mild, but for the past week it's been extremely difficult to bear. I actually took off four days completely and cross trained only to come back with that extreme pain. At this rate I would personally shut the season down after conference, but my coach insists on continuing my running since I looked great these past few weeks (provided that I can somehow fix it by this week, at least to a tolerable point; if not I'll try to persist with shutting the season down completely).

I ask for all your wisdom LetsRun. What can I do to alleviate my achilles pain. I'm willing to try just about anything. I've been rolling out my calves, along with resistance stretching with a towel, wall stretching, icing, and elevation. Is there anything else I can do.

12 years ago 10/24/2011 9:43pm EDT

re: TheMilerTom

12 years ago 10/24/2011 10:18pm EDT

re: TheMilerTom

The first thing that you need to do is get the swelling down. Take ibuprofen and ice the crap out of it, 3 times a day for 15 minutes. I would highly recommend investing in a bucket that you can fit at least the lower half of your calf in. Fill it with water and ice and stick your leg in there. It'll hurt like a mother, but it works.

Now, educate yourself:

http://speedendurance.com/2011/07/25/achilles-tendonitis-injuries-rehab-and-cures-part-1/

(This link is part one, be sure to read parts 2-5 as well)

And once you go back to running, DO NOT COME BACK TOO QUICKLY! Don't let your coach pressure you into running at the same intensity as before your injury. If you do, you WILL either aggravate your achilles or cause another injury. Not all hope is lost. Cross train hard, rehab sensibly, and return to running carefully.

12 years ago 10/24/2011 10:52pm EDT

re: joalturn

joalturn wrote:
The first thing that you need to do is get the swelling down. Take ibuprofen and ice the crap out of it, 3 times a day for 15 minutes. I would highly recommend investing in a bucket that you can fit at least the lower half of your calf in. Fill it with water and ice and stick your leg in there. It'll hurt like a mother, but it works.
Now, educate yourself:
http://speedendurance.com/2011/07/25/achilles-tendonitis-injuries-rehab-and-cures-part-1/
(This link is part one, be sure to read parts 2-5 as well)
And once you go back to running, DO NOT COME BACK TOO QUICKLY! Don't let your coach pressure you into running at the same intensity as before your injury. If you do, you WILL either aggravate your achilles or cause another injury. Not all hope is lost. Cross train hard, rehab sensibly, and return to running carefully.

Thank you very much. I read up a bit on eccentric calf raises earlier in the month, but I was a bit unsure if I was doing them right. Now that I know how to do them, I'll hope for some more positive results.

12 years ago 10/25/2011 5:59am EDT

re: TheMilerTom

Hi, I had the same problem and tried the concentric calf lowering and towel stretches and so forth. It made it worse. I then came across an article that said those activities actually increase the number of torn fibers in your achillies which is why it doesn't work. I stopped doing those techniques instead just ran normally and have been on the road to recovery over the last few months. I now can run normally but I have cut out hill runs for the last few months.

12 years ago 10/25/2011 6:03am EDT

re: TheMilerTom

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Conference on Saturday. Achilles Tendonitis. What do.

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