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Morning achilles stiffness
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I will repeat this five times over the next ten days, following the advice of M...eldy. (Thanks again.) I know there's a lot of bad feeling towards treadmills, but they have their place - precision over the distance and pace and exercising post-injury in a warm environment, for example.
I warmed up first with fast walking and 20 eccentric calf raises, and then did another 20 eccentric calf raises. No soreness at all, and none this morning. Things are definitely improving.
I am also doing other strength/ strength endurance exercises, around the leg, glutes and core.
congrats questforspeed! Sounds really encouraging.
I took my achilles to a physio, who has prescribed rest, rest and rest. She allows me to swim, as well as cycling and walking when this does not cause discomfort. Went to the hills yesterday and discovered to my distress that even quite smooth minor slopes are a problem and steep footpaths out of the question. Cycling is OK, though the bad leg feels a bit wooden around the ankle and the other one does all the work. However, I'll take her advice for the time being, and follow a diet to keep my weight under control, as i still have the healthy appetite that my active life permitted me to indulge. Being less active means I'm piling on the kilos!
Anyway, reading about your case gives me hope. So thanks for that. Good luck
I wish you all the luck with the next steps....
"Just thought I would post a follow up as most posts are about the injury and wondering how quickly it takes to heal. There aren't many posts about recovery.
I got AT on 5 May 2011 and after several false starts, I got back running properly at the start of August. I started back with three 2 mile runs per week and increased my weekly distance by 10% per week and every fifth week, reduced my mileage to allow a bit of a break from training.
When I started back I would ice my achilles after each run if possible, gave it a deep tissue massage and did some eccentric exercises. I had stiffness in my achilles when I started back running and that persisted for the first 5-6 weeks of running.
I now have no achilles stifness in the morning after 11 weeks of running. I hardly ever do the eccentric exercises or ice my achilles. I will massage it once a week or so. I have no pain during or post exercise but I am aware that my achilles isn't 'right' just yet.
The path to recovery is gradual but is possible." Posted 17 November 2011
I recently did a 20, 26 and 28 mile training runs. My achilles was slightly tender after each of these runs but I had no morning stiffness and within a few days the tenderness disappeared. I expect it will take 12-18 months before my achilles is 100% healed i.e. no tenderness after a long run.
Recovery is possible and the best treatment in my opinion is no running and plenty of eccentric exercises with daily deep tissue massages. It is the worst running injury I have ever had and if I sensed it returning I would treat it with the respect it deserves and stop running for a while.
I think that's a clear lesson that I've learned, too.
Things are going well with my rehab but this your post is a timely reminder to count my blessings and not push for race fitness or even think about it until things are several stages down the line.
It took several failed attempted returns to running before I realised I had to rest. This then led to paranoia about attempting another and ultimately successful return.
I eventually developed the mindset that my rehabilitation would take months and not weeks. Given that prior to injury I would have been running upto 40 miles per week, this was tough. My family all agreed I became a nightmare to live with such was my disappointment of not being able to run.
Good luck to anyone unfortunate to suffer AT.
SB
Actually, I was looking at my training diary last week and I carried on doing exercise in the gym (not running, but lower leg exercises) right through to the middle of September- a whole month after I did my tendon in. After that, I realised it was just not getting any better, and that's when I stopped doing anything except cycling.
So basically, I had almost 4 months of complete rest from running. That was very hard indeed and like you, I think I was a bit of a misery guts - had been doing something like 25 miles a week on average before that.
So I think we're agreed. REST, rest and rest some more to anyone who has Achilles tendinitis. Judging from the number of similar posts on this forum, that's a lot of people, sadly....
I think it is very useful that people who have recovered from injuries post on forums telling others what worked for them. When you search for AT on the web there is plenty of info about causes, symptoms and treatment but very little feedback from people who have recovered. The result of this is that the rest message doesn't get through.
I can't comment on if a 3-4 month period of rest is typical or average but hopefully it will act as a guide to others.
SB
I ran in a 5k time trial the other day with no problems and continue to do supporting strength training in the gym. I also do just a couple of intensive running sessions a week, where I can throw in intervals at 3:45 km pace without trouble, but only after a very thorough and progressive warm-up with dynamic stretching and easy running first. I think for me, the danger would be to get involved in an extensive programme of long 'easy' miles, several times a week at this stage. My total weekly miles are really low - 10k atm, and I'm not building that for a while yet.
I still have slight, localised tenderness to the touch that I notice in the bath, for example, - don't notice it during or after exercise at all - and am wondering when this will go. Probably in another 6 months or something like that!
It does time for the residual pain to disappear. It gets tot he stage you forget about it and then all of sudden you realise it has gone. For me it took a couple of months but 4 months into my return to running I did a 28 miler and had some tenderness for a few days after. I personally believe it takes 6-12 months of running for it to heal completely.
Remember even when you are healed you got AT for a reason. Try and make sure it doesn't happen again.
SB
Quest & others, as from your earlier thread you can see, I had pretty bad problem last year. I was back at running at 10-15K level until .. Patella Tendonitis.. anyhow..
When I returned to running after my achilles problems, my physion gave me the instructions / advise that when returning it will be a little tender at first. When it is - try to think back to your injury, did it feel the same? or is this just because you haven't ran for a while? Also he said, when returning to running after any injury, you're more likely to cause a "mental" problem as well, meaning that you are consicious of the injury and you think that you have same issues again.
I was off for 6 months or so. So I guess the healing time is different for each of us and also I guess it depends how bad your injury was.
Hope that helped a little.
SB - yes, you're right that AT happens for a reason.
I have become hyper-sensitive to any tell-tale signs of danger, including differences in strength/ degree of activation/ between the L and RHS muscle groups.
For example, I found that a day after doing heavy deadlifts, relative soreness showed that my left glutes were far more activated than my R (the injured side). Seems like the LHS took over during the acute injury (when I was limping) and possibly a progressive relative loss of strength took place on the RHS. This is mostly remediated but I'm really wary of it as it's the kind of thing that could lead to more problems down the line. These inequalities could be in the quads, hamstrings and calves, too...
I'm building up so sloooooowly ... not in a hurry to have that injury ever again.
It shows that this is a complex injury with a very comprehensive approach needed to recover fully. In my case, I will now add balance exercises for both feet/legs together, as well as separate feet/ legs. Fortunately, no more snow walking needed just now!
Quest, what a shame!
Are you sure you haven't caused some tear on your achilles?