aKILLeeze wrote:
I'm a 26-year-old runner (well, WAS a runner) and I've suffered from Achilles pain since 2015. I'm out of ideas on what to do. Back in 2015 when this started, it would just bother me enough after a few months that I had to take a month off and start up again once the pain was gone. I did this over and over until early 2017 when I basically gave up on running because the training stints were getting shorter and shorter. But I really want to reach my goal of breaking 30 in the 10k.
The pain is low on the inside of my heel near where the Achilles joins the heel bone. It is not agonizing, but hurts every step in certain motions enough to make me slightly limp, especially when walking uphill or if I do any running at all, even if I just jog across the street. Or if I'm wearing tight shoes like rock climbing shoes I really feel it.
I have been to two podiatrists:
-Doctor 1: the podiatrist that treats the Brooks-Hansons Elite team
-Doctor 2: a podiatrist who has treated Flanagan, Rupp, Ritzenheim, Rowbury, Radcliffe, etc.
Doctor 1 (2016): X-rayed, initially said it was minor Haglund's deformity and later tendinitis. Tried:
-eccentric heel raises (flat-ground, unweighted, weighted), doing them religiously at very high reps
-using a walking boot for up to a month, done twice
-cortisone shot
-electrostim treatments
I also tried on my own:
-icing, heating, alternating between icing and heating with a special heat/ice pad sock
-sleeping with a Strassburg sock
-wearing an ankle compression sock
-a ton of supplements touted as helping with tendon health
None of these things helped at all besides maybe the cortisone shot. The pain has always felt like it's at 90% at best and no better. I gave up until I was living near another reputable running doctor. So I haven't trained since April 2017 (about 14 months off of running now).
Doctor 2 (2018): X-rayed, said it was tendinosis. Tried:
-3 EPAT + electrostim treatments (he said it's successful in 85% of patients and that only 30 machines exist in the world, so I was banking on this helping...)
After waiting three months, I didn't feel any improvement, but I still tried a 30-minute run. I felt pain after a few steps but was so frustrated I finished the run. I was limping really bad for the next week and thought it was going to explode. Never doing that again.
So after EPAT treatment failed with no improvement, he had it MRIed and said there is nothing obvious in the MRI besides bursitis and the heelbone is slightly long (so I guess Haglund's?) and recommended surgery, shaving down the bone and removing the bursa.
Should I go ahead and do this, or hang up the running shoes forever? I can't even play any rec sports that involve any amount of running. I'm just afraid surgery will fix nothing. But I've sunk a couple thousand dollars into doctor visits so I might as well follow through with SOMETHING.
I can post the X-rays if requested.
TL;DR: I have tried most Achilles treatments with no improvement in 3 years, even with the last 14 months off of running. Will surgery help? Any experiences with this surgery?