Had bad tendinitis near my right fibula. There was a specific spot with an inflamed bump that hurt to tap on badly. Took about two months off mostly spin biking. I can now run on it without any pain, although I can still feel a small bump (now much smaller than it was) and it still hurts a little bit to tap on. I can also feel some sort of tightness or tugging around the area when I run. Is it safe to run on it yet, or should I take more time off?
Is it peroneal tendinitis? And have you seen a PT yet?
yes its peroneal tendinitis and yes i have seen a PT
I'm not a Dr/PT, just speaking from experience of tendinitis/osis in other places.
The bump indicates a problem as you know, but it can take months/years to shrink away even when everything is fine. So, don't get upset about that unless it starts getting worse.
The tugging sensation is a much bigger red flag -- suggests some spring has been lost because the fibers are misaligned, and you need some slight disruption and eccentric strengthening to get a proper heal. Is your PT doing gentle crossfriction massage? What kind of lower leg exercises are they having you do?
I personally wouldn't run yet if it's tugging from the first steps. That's conservative, but tendons are fussy beasts. Two months is not very long in tendinitis-land...
i've been running through it for about the last two months right from the onset. This past few days it has shown some encouraging signs of improvement, and i have reason to believe i am just about done with it.
I can't say what's best for you and won't begin to make any recommendation.
For me, a couple of steps that i believe to have helped were to cut down on overall mileage, stop doing the more intense level of speed work temporarily, and setting aside a dedicated 15 or 20 minutes per day to do focused stretching of all areas.
I ran through tendinitis for ~2 months and it really sucked. I don't think I ran any good races during that time, as my training was much worse. I took 2 complete months off between XC and track and it was gone.
i've been really struggling overall for a period that coincides roughly with the injury, so perhaps that may be true in my case as well. But i attributed it to other things. Thanks.