Gritty Achillies?

patrick carroll

patrick carroll

Barefooters
Oct 10, 2012
12
0
1
57
Cumbria UK
#1
I ran 15 miles last week and my left Achilles ended up very sore and slightly swollen. It felt "gritty" and lumpy and sort of grinding to move. Any thoughts ideas or suggestions as to whats going on and how to heal/prevent this happening? Have been altenating between hot and cold compress which seems to help but its still tender a week later. Cheers all and happy running
 
#2
the question I have is what is going on in your core, since if the core is dysfunctional, and causing you to over and under stride, tightening the it bands and gluts, you will have a very hard foot strike, yet may not realize it since the process that creates this is gradual. I doubt icing will correct this since it is not an injury. A good sports chiropractor who does myofascial release may be helpful in sorting this out
 
#3
thanks for the advice doc :) will endeavour to do more core work. Will specific stretches help? Not sure we have a chiropractor in our area but I have a very good Physio?? Bit gutted to hear I may have a hard foot strike as I do try very hard to tread softly and land with my feet under my body :(

cheers again Patrick
 
#4
Hi Patrick,
Was your tendon sore before you went on the 15 mile run? The reason I ask is that I know, as runners we will keep on going until we break down and are forced to stop.
If it has been a cummulative series of runs that have caused the soreness then as the doc says it's probably a landing pattern problem.
If it has just come on after one run I would have thought any soreness would have worn off after a day or so.
Our main problem is that we obsess about getting certain mileage in each week without listening to the signals our bodies are giving us. Running through pain usually doesn't work.

Neil
 
#6
Not a big fan of stretching because it only has a limited value if done at the end of a run. On the other hand, I am a huge fan of foam rollers. If you do not have one, it is worth the purchase. For some ideas, watch my video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BllSV77O08
 
#7
Bummer, I got those exact symptoms in June of last year and it was diagnosed as tendinitis of the Achilles. It took 8 weeks of not running, rolling, icing, and physical therapy to clear up. The physio said my left hip was weak and so I did stretching and calf and hip strengthening exercises as well.

I think both the swelling and the grinding are pretty bad signs. I'd take that seriously, you don't want to mess with an Achilles, especially as a barefooter, or it could lead to a chronic injury that might stop your running for good. I didn't like taking 2 months off but I was able to fix my muscle imbalances and 2013 has been very good to me.
 
#8
I am hyper vigilent about any pains around my ankles these days. If I feel anything out of the ordinary I'll be using a combination of ice water, rolling and calf drops (but not too many as I have found that you end up getting the opposite result, instead of stronger more stable ankle area and calf you can fatigue it and then when you run on it cause the problem you were trying to avoid so use then sparingly).
Maybe ultrasound might speed up recovery.

Neil
 
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