Achilles heel problem

[clarkmagpie]

After a recent game of Sunday League football I have suffered with really painful Achilles heels.

After a 4 week break I am still struggling to walk downstairs with out looking like some sort of club-foot.
Walking normally hurts to start with but the pain goes after a while.
Soon as I stop and restart so does the pain.

Is there anything I can do to help the healing process speed up?
What would the doctor do if I were to go and see him?

I have a game on Sunday which I know I shouldn't play in, would a gentle work outmake things worse or it just a case of total rest?

Thanks.

[Stu R]

I had physio after the doc referred me for what sounds like the same thing, it was pretty much just regular stretching, take some ibuprofen, avoid running and impacts.

[EmmaP]

Ice the area to reduce swelling (be careful to not leave ice on for too long so you avoid the risk of frost bite). Added to that I have found that massaging the heel, Achilles area and calf muscle of each leg (using moisturiser makes this easier) helps boost the blood flow and reduce stiffness in muscle. Added to this stretch morning and evening by dropping heel down whilst foot is on a step, holding stretch for 2 X 30 seconds.

Regular deep tissue massage with a massage therapist will help too. This has worked for me.

Pay attention to your footwear too. My Achilles tendinitis was brought on by wearing shoes with not sufficient shock absorption. It seemed to disappear overnight last week - after doing all of the above for best part of a year - with the onset of back pain

[dirty boy]

REST.




Simple as that.

After running, I was getting up every morning and having to decend the stairs backwards, in considerable pain.


After months, ibroprufen, ice etc, I gave up and went to the doctors...the result...REST.

Not what you want to hear, I know, I was gutted.

He told me 6 months too (I couldn't bear to touch my achilles)

Although i've had a twinge recently, it was the right thing to do.

When I started up footy again, I warmed up thoroughly and did plenty of stretching afterwards.



As mentioned, the achilles has very little blood flow so takes ages to heal, so look after it.

[996 sps]

Try to avoid a doctors and see a sports physio or sports therapist if possible, doctor will always recommend PRICE (unless sports qualified doctor in my experience), if it is achilles tendonosis then you need a rough idea of if its insertational or mid-tendon as protocol for eccentric exercise programme has changed in regards point heel is being lowered to.

There is a long thread on Health Matters about this already.

See a physio mate........

[Beardy10]

See a physio and maybe a good sports massage therapist. Calves are ridiculously strong...I'd say it's bloody hard to be able to stretch it properly. Sounds daft but acupunture can actually work really well on muscles that are in spasm or are very stiff. I had something called Bursitus in my heel and did the above....it took quite a few sessions of doing the above but it worked and meant I didn't have to have a cortisone injection and wear one of those daft boots for a month. If you are in London I can recommend a good physio and massage therapist.

[alfa pint]

Suffered from exactly the same for several years. An MRI scan shows that there are loads of little tears and perforations up and down both achilles that will only heal with rest and physio.

Ice and brufen make it bearable, and I've managed to avoid the left ankle re-occurring by using some supportive insoles for my footwear and by avoiding flat soled shoes. However, the right ankle is now going the same way and will result in a ruptured tendon if I don't treat it properly this year.

I had the plastic aircast on for about 8 weeks, taking it off to use my left foot for the clutch and to sleep, but on for moving about (including a fast walk from Twickenham station to the rugby ground once! Epic!) and then rehabbed the ankle by doing a series of 12-20 slow negative toe raise reps on a smiths machine with 20-40 kg across my shoulders while standing on an aerobics step thing. This took another 4 weeks or so before I could start running again on a treadmill and a further 4 before I could run outside.

[captainzep]

Achilles rupture = being in plaster cast and on crutches for a long time.

The pain is a warning which needs to be heeded as others have said.

[cheeky_chops]

all of the above - 996 knows his stuff

Injured mine running last year. Left it 3 weeks and tried again resulting in more limping everywhere with club foot (no fun when you are on holiday with the family )

Left it a month and it still ached in the morning. Attempted eccentrics in the gym for a few months. Didnt do much. Signed up for a triathlon so started doing eccentric drops twice a day at home with a rucksack full of house bricks, also lots of straight/bent leg stretches. The following is off the tri forum. I started off with hoping exercises in the rehab pdf as mine was quite stable and i could run a short distance...

http://www.clinicalsportsmedicine.com/chapters/32....
http://www.brighamandwomens.org/RehabilitationServ...
http://cks.nhs.uk/achilles_tendinopathy/management...

Ran 4 miles last week no problem (i have made an effort to stopped heal striking too)

Edited by cheeky_chops on Thursday 9th September 16:42