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Achilles Woes
Ping Pong Boy
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Does anyone have experience of Achilles injury? This time last week I started to experience a slight twinge in my left leg. I took it easy for 4 days and then returned to running last night but to no avail and I had to abandon a Long Run due to the pain. Incidentally my trainers have done about 300 miles and I tend to run on my toes a bit when running (so others tell me anyway).
Now I know the advice is to rest but I'm trying to get ready for my first marathon in 2 months and I'm just annoyed that I've got injured again all of a sudden.
Does anyone have an idea as to how long the recommended lay off should be?
Also are there any particular exercises that may help recovery?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
PPB.
Now I know the advice is to rest but I'm trying to get ready for my first marathon in 2 months and I'm just annoyed that I've got injured again all of a sudden.
Does anyone have an idea as to how long the recommended lay off should be?
Also are there any particular exercises that may help recovery?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
PPB.
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Comments
I also found that warming the area up before a run helped lower the chances of it starting to hurt (just rubbing it for a while with my hand). Also icing the area afterwards was effective too.
My physio also gave me really small heel lifts (the highest part only about 5mm) to put in my shoes and trainers, and this really made a huge difference.
Good luck with it and hope it sorts itself out so that you're able to do your marathon.
I damaged mine by doing aerobics on my lounge floor with no trainers on (it was 6:15 in the morning!) but I have paid for it.. missed the whole summer of evening runs and races - I last raced in March!
All the suggestions above are excellent, stretching, ice and staying off it for a while, elevating where you can. Is it possible to do some cross-training for two weeks? Non-impact stuff like biking and weights in the gym, then you're not losing fitness and you are increasing muscle mass but not making the injury worse.It has really helped me now I'm running again, I'm much stronger through the work in the gym.
Only you know how bad it is but don't run on it just because of the maraton - I kept training for two weeks after it first occurred (just ignored the excruciating pain)and only made it worse.
Sorry to be a bringer of doom! Good luck!!
Cross-training, as Louise said, is a really good idea - keeps you sane when you can't run. I found both cycling and swimming to be fine - especially the cycling as it meant that I could do get out and about so it's as close to a run as you can get... only sitting down!
Thanks for the advice everyone. Interestingly I do have proper running shoes bought from a running shop. My local running shop (and we only have one in Aberdeen) doesn't do gait analysis. I was blaming some new Nike Pegasus shoes bnought recently for possibly causing the injury but I doubt this is actually the case.
I think I'll try and get the gait analysis done next time I'm in a town with it. I think a running shop in Edinburgh do analyse running style.
I'll follow the advice provided. I think Louise has hit the nail on the head. It's better to rest for a couple of weeks with cross training than try and run through niggling pain that only gets worse as my distances increase. I'm fortunate that ther is a gym next to my work so I can cross train and go swimming at little cost. So I think I'll do that for the next 2 weeks then slowly try and return to the running. If the injury hasn't improved enought then I may just have to abandon the marathon run for this year and work towards one for next year instead.
Thanks again
PPB.
P.S. If the shoes are relatively new and/or you've changed shoe style/brand it could be them.. do they have high backs (don't know what that bit is called!) that sit on your achilles? If so they could be rubbing and causing the trouble - even if they don't feel as though they are. A suggested remedy is to attack your shoes with some scissors and cut the very top bits off so the shoe fits lower around your achilles. I've never done this and you do effectively ruin a lovely pair of shoes but if it stops the pain.. might be worth a try if you don't see an improvement in a couple of weeks.
Good luck!!
A few additions to what people have suggested: if you have a lay off, do not try stretching straight away (you'll do more damage). Give the pain time to receed. Avoid running uphill or in sand; avoid plyometrics, especially exercises such as bounds and hops. You can try cutting or burning off the top back of the heels of your running shoes to ease the pressure on your tendon (the pain is caused by the swelling around the tendon which causes it to stick ti its sheath. Finally alternate cold therapy (ice) with warming the area, which increases the blood flow to the area.
The pain in my achilles is still very much accute at the moment, but I had similar problems with chronic plantar fascitiis (for over a year) and refused to let it stop me, using natural lay off periods such as after a marathon to give it a chance to heal and, eventually, it did go.
I know this doesn't sound like very sensible advice, but I have long ago refused to let every niggle (and they are many!) stop me...
Thanks though Louise & Nick. I'm tempted by the "cut up the trainers" solution as I reckon the Nike Pegasus' do have high backs and this could be affecting the injury. But I think I will follow what I suggested earlier and rest / cross train for a week or two and then return slowly to see if the injury is healing.
While on the Long Run on Sunday I know I could have kept going and ran through the pain, the mistake I made was stopping and walking at one point (my mate nutcases fault as he wanted to stop for a p*ss).
So if I was in a marathon I would most likely be able to keep going until the end and deal with the injury consequences subsequently. Not a bad time to get injured though if it was the end of Septmeber as I've no planned races after Loch Ness Marathon anyway until next year.
Cheers again.
I had an AT injury several years ago that I initially tried to ignore but in the end in became chronic and I needed an operation. The operation was no walk in the park and I needed several sessions of very painful cross frictional massage from the physio before I fully recovered. In all I think I lost nearly 2 years but did recover eventually. I just wish I had been patient immediately.
I currently have a slight strain in the other achilles (due to the hard ground with the recent heatwave I think) but I have sought treatment straight away and am confident with the correct therapy ( massage, ultrasound) and stretching I can limit the lay off to 6 weeks. However I will only test when I am sure. You can't mess around with an AT injury in my opinion or the problem will haunt you for months or worse.
Good luck everyone.
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0031.htm
I have had chronic Achilles pain in the past, and normal stretching/nsaid/rice didn't seem to work. However the strengthening methods outlined at the above link have worked for me.
I have also cut the back of my trainers so that there is no rubbing, although I have just bought a pair of low backed ones to see how I get on with this type (Adidas calibrate).
Have a look and good luck with your recovery.
Cha
here i am 50 years old running 10 k runs 2 times a week. i developed AT this feb but i keep running through. i've cut down my frequency from 4 times a week to 2. but i feel better if i keep running. at times when the gap exceeds 4 days, the pain just increases. listen to your body and your heart. just keep going.
Remedy ..
- never run on consecutive days,
- give myself 48, or preferably 72, hours between runs,
- don't engage in heavy stretching when you can still feel pain in particular avoid the calf extension with ball of foot on a step a great stretch normally but not with an inflamed AT,
- ice it rest it between runs,
- regular (monthly) sports massage legs obviously,
- cross training swimming particularly,
- careful shoe selection.
My symptoms are less severe than those described above, I don't get pain when I am running, only afterwards. I'm 56 and I suspect that if I continue to run I'm never going to get rid of AT completely so find yourself a regime that enables you to live with it
Only you know how bad, tolerable the pain is.
When I return after the 2 week lay off I'll drop the runs from 5 before down to 3(Long, Tempo and possibly a little speed) and keep cross training with hard cardio on the other days. I was aiming for a 3.50 marathon but 4 Hours will now be the target.
PPB.
I feel tempted to rest it, but I know from experience it isn't the answer (I could rest for 3 months, and the pain will still be here when I start running again). 'Wish there was a miracle cure but, failing that, will pretend I'm allright and carry on training as usual...
(sorry, I'm just venting off my frustration here, as the bloody thing is preventing me from doing plyometrics & hills, which I feel could really benefit my running at the moment)
I feel tempted to rest it, but I know from experience it isn't the answer (I could rest for 3 months, and the pain will still be here when I start running again). 'Wish there was a miracle cure but, failing that, will pretend I'm allright and carry on training as usual...
(sorry, I'm just venting my frustration here, as the bloody thing is preventing me from doing plyometrics & hills, which I feel could really benefit my running at the moment)
The Peak Performance sports injury bulletin webpage, which chamac directed us to, looks very interesting and definitely worth trying. My sports massage person (is masseuse sexist?) had told me about these exercises and I got the impression that a lot of people involved in the treatment of sports injuries think this approach really is the business as far as AT is concerned.
Maybe I'll take her advice and actually do them for an extended period!
My understanding (I'm sure one of the medics who browse this site will slap me down if I'm wrong) is that when used to describe an injury or medical condition then it means long-term, persistent something like that. It does not mean severe or serious; the term used to describe that is "acute".
I realise this could win me pedant of the day but it can be important when discussing these things.
My achilles is still hurting (again I couldn't walk this morning), and I have a speed session planned tonight...
It's as bad as it's ever been recently and, yes, I am getting frustrated. I don't really have the patience for the exercises describes in the afore-mentionned article, but I guess, eventually, I'm going to need to make the time.
Do the 3 things go hand in hand? And what comes first? What I mean is, if I sorted out my tight calfs, would the other niggles even out too?
As a runner one gets used to various niggling aches and pains and one also tends to be dismissive of any remedy that prescribes extended periods of non-running for something that we don't perceive as particularly serious.
You have too much to lose not to do this...
You're the voice of reason... I guess I will. Thanks for that