What's interesting about that article is that it says that achillies injuries are common in over 40's - I was 40 last December. Achillies injuries are caused by weak calves, I tore / strained my calf about 6 weeks prior to knackering my achillies in late Feb.
The excercises were recommended by someone who was in exactly the same position as you i.e. in his 40s, injured for months, getting fed up but no sure what to do after trying Deep Heat, rest, Neurophens, icing etc. He said that he got into doing the excercises whenever he had a few minutes and encouraged me to try with good results.
My achilles injury is finally (touch wood) showing signs of a remarkable recovery, having been running on it with lots of post run pain for a good 18 months. I guess being unable to run for a couple of months with my knee (aka the knee of doom) has helped but, saying that, my achilles hurt like the bejasus after my first attempt at a comeback run. And ditto the next couple of runs too.
But then, in maybe a eureka moment, I noticed something really strange about how I was running uphill on that achilles on my right foot; almost without realising it, I always seemed to be running on tip toe on this foot on climbs which just may have been putting some kind of extra pressure on the achilles. Since that 'discovery' I've pointedly been running more flat footed on hill climbs and, maybe coincidentally or maybe directly because of this, my achilles has just stopped hurting and the swelling on it has really reduced in size.
Hi,
I've been having really frustrating pain in my heel/achilles, and wondered if anyone had had similar, and what the best thing to do is. It hurts at the back/slightly inside my heel at about the level of the top of my shoe. Its really bad going uphill or traversing. It doesn't hurt at all without shoes on, or when stretching (just hurts with any shoe, but some worse than others). It all started after a weekend walking in some really stiff walking boots.
I've done the usual (ice, ibuprofen) and tried padding my heel. I've booked physio for Thursday, but am I wasting my money? Training for BG this year, but worried I am going to do some real damage by keeping training
cheers
Becky
Try making two cuts through the heel of the shoe, one each side of the achilles, down to the top of the heel cup. This reduces the pressure on the heel and the achilles.
I had a bout of achilles trouble, and its the first thing I do to all new pairs of shoes.