Crunchy Achilles

Barefoot Gentile

Barefoot Gentile

Barefooters
Apr 5, 2010
1,947
1,226
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53
Fairfield, CT
#1
I have had an achillles problem for almost a month now. I first got it maybe two weeks before my marathon, and of course ran the marathon. I have ran once since the marathon which was two weeks ago, did 4 miles today, it didn't go well. Looks like I need to take alot more time off from running.

I have been searching the internet about this condition and some stories are not pretty. It's been a rough two months with injuries for me, it's my right leg only! I need a new one.

Anyways I have pretty much exhausted all the research and know about every single step to rehab it myself. I have never been injured like this before, and to be honest it's really tough and a bit depressing, but I have to just deal with it.

Just wondering if anyone else had this situation, and what steps did you take to heal it.



Thanks,

Adam
 
#3
OMGosh, Adam.  Stay off of it

OMGosh, Adam. Stay off of it for now. It sucks, I know, but stay positive.
 
#4
You need to give it some

You need to give it some rest. Tendons have little blood supply, so they are slow to heal. One thing that may help is to get a heating pad. Take some Aleve (or generic) 20 minutes before wrapping the heating pad around the ankle. Then keep it on for about an hour (watch TV or read or computer). The idea behind this is to open up the capilaries with the heat so that the antiinflamatory can get to the site. Another important point is to find a suitable crosstrain activity that doesn't agravate the condition. Bicycling or indoor trainer, swimming, etc. That way you can maintain some level of fitness and more impotantly keep your spirits up. I have had achiles problems and finally dealt with them by giving up any hill running. Or if I'm on a route with some hills, I run them backwards which removes any stress on the heal.
 
#5
Mique, I will try the heat.  

Mique, I will try the heat. I always thought you need to ice them, which I have been. But I feel the ice has been making it worse. I was doing calf raises as well, which TOTALLY made it worse. I will just rest for a bit, and ride my bike.



I will give the heat and some advil a try tonight.



Thanks!
 
#6
Those sound like really great

Those sound like really great recommendations, Miqie. Running hills must be a bear to the Achilles. Good to know.
 
#8
Ice is good to use right

Ice is good to use right after an activity to lessen inflamation. That doesn't mean to run through the pain with a preexistant condition and then hope to make it all better with ice. One thing, when you do use ice, you'll be making the area a lot stiffer because of the cold, so don't go walking around on the ankle until it warms back up or you'll cause more harm than good.
 
#10
I LOVE hills too.  I consider

I LOVE hills too. I consider myself a good hill runner. When others are walking up the hills, I'm running them. I look at it like it's a challenge, a competitor, one I won't let lick me.
 
#12
 not sure what exactly is

not sure what exactly is going on with your achilles but i'm on the recovery end of some achilles pain that was killing me whether i ran or walked...

my achilles became painfully tight and swollen. often when i walked i couldn't even bend the foot. that was about 6 weeks ago. using ice, compression, and rest seemed to help but any type of exercise would cause it to seize back up. a couple of weeks ago i started massaging the tendon which hurt like hell but since i started doing it daily i've had considerably quicker improvements. to the point where i'm hitting the trails tomorrow.

like i said, not sure what you injury is, but i hope it gets better quickly and this little bit of info was helpful
 
#13
My achilles is finally

My achilles is finally feeling better, not 100% healed. I did run 3 times last week only for a total of 13 miles. The last run which was on Saturday, the achilles was really sore and tender again. This is such a long process but slowly getting better.



Chaotic Mark: I do the massaging as well and found that to be most helpful, thanks. Good to hear you are healing as well. Takes forever!
 
#14
I've had achilles issues over

I've had achilles issues over the last few months too. Sore first thing in the morning, and for the first 10 minutes of a run. It's been like that since I did a hilly HM early December 2009, but I don't think it was the hills specifically that caused it, as I've always run hills. It didn't seem to get any worse, and I ran a marathon on it in April. (it actually felt BETTER after the marathon)

Everything I read on the subject indicated a week complete rest, and then you could run on it again...just no hills, speed work, or long runs. I was also doing 'eccentric heel drops' to strengthen it. It wasn't really getting any better, so I figured it was probably a form issue, and when I started going BF, I think I found the problem - I had stopped allowing my foot to 'kiss' the ground. Concentrating on fixing that, and I'm seeing a fairly steady improvement now.

Marc

PS: my theory is that because I got blisters during the HM, (wet feet very early on) I started favouring that area during the latter part of the race, and after during recovery, and developed the habit of keeping that heel up off the ground.
 
#15
 I started the

I started the minimalist/barefoot approach about 7 months ago. Since I've run competitively all my life, I figured I wouldn't have to go as slow as what experienced barefooters recommended. Wrong! Both achilles started hurting about 4 months in (coincident with an uptick in mileage and intensity) and about 4 weeks back they were extremely painful. After some reading, here's what I did...and it seemed to work.

1. Rest...I took about two weeks off from running and stuck with biking and ellipticals at the gym.

2. Massage the achilles with a heat/vibrating massager. It was tender at first, but got better after about a week.

3. Massage calf muscles with rolling pin. A book I read points out that often time achilles pain can be the result of tight calf muscles. I find a rolling pin to be one of the best massagers (I also use it on my quads and hamstrings when they get tight). I found that by massaging each calf muscle - back and both sides - along with the achilles greatly reduced my pain, even more than a direct massage on the achilles.

I am now back to running, and slowly working up my mileage. I read that achilles tendonitis can become chronic if you're not careful. I don't need that.
 
#16
I have always found for me

I have always found for me alternating Ice and Heat works best on tendon strains. I think the Ice keeps swelling at bay and heat encourages healing. When I had "Crunchy" tendons on the top of my foot, the hot cold really worked for me.

The scary thing is I know exactly what you mean by crunchy tendon.
 
#17
 I tend to run up hills

I tend to run up hills faster than any other part of my runs. It's as if I want to "get them over with" but I actually enjoy it. When hiking the Grand Canyon, my brother and I went up faster than we wen't down buy about 20 minuets. I guess we were taking in more of a view on the way down! Fast Recovery Adam!
 
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