Night splint http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PhysioRoom...item7217299c02
Although I'm not sure how anyone actually manages to sleep with one of these on....
Night splint http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PhysioRoom...item7217299c02
Although I'm not sure how anyone actually manages to sleep with one of these on....
I had this 4 years ago, and after struggling with it for a few months finally got to see the specialist, HÃ¥kan Alfredsson, who pioneered the eccentric training approach for treatment of achilles tendinopathy. I was actually put on the waiting list for surgery (to scrape away the blood vessels - neovascularization - that grow into the achilles causing tendinopathy), but he showed what they really meant by eccentric training. In the 6 six weeks I waited I followed his program for intense training - I didn't believe it would work, but it began to reduce the problem and surgery was cancelled.
Physios will often recommend eccentric training where you stand on a stair edge and push up with both feet and slowly lower on the one, dropping the heel below the stair tread. 15x on each side and then do this 3x. Then do this at least 3x each day. However, what many physios neglect is that you have to gradually add weight on your back. If it does not hurt while doing the training then it is not being done right, essentially. The better trained you are, the more weight you will ultimately need. I began with 10 kg in a pack, and after a few days progressed to 15 kg, and then once a day tried to stop by the gym and progressed finally up to 40 kg over the first 3 weeks. It is important to keep doing the training beyond when your achilles begins to feel better. The point of the training is to alter/damage these neovascularizations and accompanying nerves. I think the protocol requires that you continue this for at least 12 weeks. Over that time period I was slowly able to build back up to normal training amounts, 5-7 days/week running (cycling on the off days).
Now, whenever I feel a twinge in my achilles I start immediately with a program of eccentric training, and I keep 10 kg in an old pack in the closet by the stairs ready at all times. I also use this to keep chronic plantar fasciitis under control, along with different size balls to roll under the foot.
Alfredsson's story behind this method is that he had achilles tendinitis himself, as it was called then, and was frustrated that his dept. head wouldn't operate on it, because then Alfredsson would be on sick leave for a while. Alfredsson figured he would give eccentric training a shot, but assumed more-or-less that he would just snap off his achilles when he increased the weight more and more and then he would have to have an operation! Instead he found that it reversed the problem and it got better.
Thanks for all the advice guys
Reg the splint: I used the Strassburg sock - could never wear a hard boot... http://www.physioroom.com/product/St...030/38229.html
Hi All
I hurt my achillies tendon a couple of weeks ago, i think during a circuit training session. It gradually got worse to the point that i couldn't walk properly due to the pain and i had to stop running a couple of days later. I've been to my GP who is a runner himself and also to a private physio and it has been confirmed as achilloies tendonosis rather than a partial rupture/tear, which i was fearing. The physio put some rock tape on it and although some people report good results i'm not sure whether its doing anything much - i've been putting an ice pack on it and doing the eccentric exercises too but after a week of this it doesn't feel any better. On the advice of my GP I am preparing to have to pull out of the Excalibur marathon on 23/03/13, which i've been training for and looking forward to - can't believe how frustrating it is not to be able to run!
Is anyone able to offer any insights re: how long this type of injurt takes to recover from? Looking at other posts it seems the answer might be akin to "how long is a piece of string?"
I was also wondering if there anything else i could do to speed up recovery - i notice the previous post re: the Stassburg sock, but isn't that for a different type of injury, Plantar Fasciitis? - or can this type of sock be helfpul for achillies problems too?
I was also wondering if anyone who has had this type of injury has tried using an ankel support / gel heel pads to aid recovery and possibly provide support when initially starting to run again - it wasn't suggested by the GP or physio but i came across this on eBay and wondered if it might help - i'm pretty desperate for anything that will help get back up and running! : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Gel-Achill...item337fde66e5
cheers
Tid
Personally i never started to get any real improvements until i dropped my milage.. .a lot more than i'd thought . I went from 50miles per week down to 2-3miles every other day.
I found that i would always get to 20mins before getting pain, so i started to run for 15mins.
I also found that sleeping in a plantar boot helped. even though i never had problems with my plantar region. as silly as it sounds, i was finding the weight and pressure on the duvet was causing my foot to flex meaning that for most of the night my tendon was healing with it in a shortend position.
I also found cycling really helped as it didnt hurt but also kept the area mobile.
In the end id say it took a good couple of months of rehab. Ok so i was running in the time, but only a couple of miles at a time.
Sorry i cant give you any more help.
thanks Beasty. At the moment i can't run on it at all, it is too painful to run even a mile on it. I think i'm going to try the exercise bike in the gym tomorrow and I have just ordered a plantar boot - fingers cross that it works, some of the reviews are encouraging.
cheers
These really do work for lower limb injuries rehab.
http://www.aquajogger.com/
I had a year of it a couple of years ago, I found running on the flat helped (not the best advice on a Fellrunning forum), never never never rub, massage it etc, and was recommended Serrapeptase by a guy at work which may have been purely coincidental but appeared to clear it up in days, it still niggles every now and again but nothing like it was when it was full on, hope it clears up soon as it's a pig :thunbdown:
My AT is very strange. No pain when running or walking. I only get pain when sitting down or lying on the sofa. No position alleviates the pain. But I'm running pain free, so not complaining !