Achiiles pain and calf soft tissue massage?

Paul J-R

So they say eccentric exercises are the answer to Achilles problems...if it's the non-insertional type (pain on the tendon above the heel bone).  So, I've been doing the exercises twice a day (straight leg and bent knee) for weeks and my achilles have consistently been painful.  I've also seen a physio 3 times over the past six months about my achilles and have had a problem with them all year.

Against expert advise, I did a run-bike-run Saturday (11k, 26k, 5k) and I was expecting to have extremely sore achilles - they were sore during the 11k.  But after the race I had a free and very intense soft tissue massage on my calfs and all this week, having ran twice more, I only feel very slight discomfort.

What's puzzling me, is that the eccentric exercises just seemed to sustain the pain in my achilles. I don't understand how just a single soft tissue massage could resolve my previously crippling (when running) achilles problem. Does that make any sense to anyone?  I really would like to get back to my 38min 10k training plan asap before I lose too much fitness.

Cheers, Paul