I did a trail run over the weekend and felt a tiny bit of soreness in my left Achilles the next day. There's no swelling, but there is some tenderness about ankle height to about one inch lower along the Achilles tendon itself. It's a nagging pain when I run, but manageable. It's noticeable when walking if I take long strides.
Since it hasn't gone away and is getting slightly worse instead of better, what should I do about it? I have no major competition for the next couple of months.
Definitely don't try to push through it. Achilles injuries aren't a thing to mess around with. Rest it for as many days as it takes to get rid of the pain completely.
If it persists, do some eccentric calf strengthening.
Rest until it is 100% better
Might be a year or more
GL
fisky wrote:
I did a trail run over the weekend and felt a tiny bit of soreness in my left Achilles the next day. There's no swelling, but there is some tenderness about ankle height to about one inch lower along the Achilles tendon itself. It's a nagging pain when I run, but manageable. It's noticeable when walking if I take long strides.
Since it hasn't gone away and is getting slightly worse instead of better, what should I do about it? I have no major competition for the next couple of months.
get on a bicycle but don't flex the ankle much on the foot with the achilles issue
Swim until your healed
Nothing to do but smile smile smile
Thanks for all the good advice. I'll take some days off and then ease back in slowly.
Today, I'm hitting it with every treatment I can think of... Ibuprofen, DMSO (used it for decades), MSM liniment, interferential TENS, heel lifts in all my shoes, Epsom Salt soaks, glucosamine/chondroitin, and no running. Probably the no running is all it will take, but maybe it will speed up heeling a couple days.
I'd like to have a day completely pain free before attempting to run again.
DMSO= category 4 poison
I'm about 95% healed now. What seemed to work best was aloe vera. I'd take a spine from the plant, split it like a hotdog bun, and then tape it to the Achilles overnight with a wrap. I've done that in the past for foot/ankle injuries, but I had forgotten about it initially. We keep an aloe vera plant for burns.
I only used the DMSO for a day. It's not something to mess around with.
FYI, I avoided all stretching until it healed. I'd do some light massage of the area, but that was all. I also avoided track, hills, and speedwork. I also changed shoes to avoid one pair that seemed to irritate the injury.
Good luck to others with this injury. I hope my experience helps someone heal faster.
Hey Fisky, the only thing that works for this is prolotherapy, seriously it is great for the Achilles, don't listen to the idiots above.
Sounds like a mild strain. Stop running NOW - miss 4 or so days now or miss a few months later.
what should I do about it?
Consult a actual physio, and ignore all LRC quacks.
You can't sprain your achilles. You sprain ligaments. Strains is for muscles and tendons.
Achnilll wrote:
Sounds like a mild strain. Stop running NOW - miss 4 or so days now or miss a few months later.
Done. And you're right. I took 8 days off, but I MIGHT have been able to return after 4. I had a previous Achilles injury that bothered me for a couple of years, so I decided to err on the conservative side.
Here's a 2013 on eccentric heel drops. Do as many as you can tolerate with a maximum of 180 per day. Do this for 6 weeks. Worked for me. I do heel drops every day now. I no longer have achilles problems after a couple of years of dealing with it with all the other commonly suggested methods.
*2013 paper