Ankle/Achillies

[Andypye]

After some advice.
I have recently rejuvenated by motivation and over the past month was enjoying putting a few extra miles in, even joined the local club and got some hill seasions too.
However I seem to be going from one injury to the next which is annoying.
My recent injury is showing the symptoms of achillies tendonitis. There is no push from my right calf, I can feel tightness after a mile running, and wake up in the morning with stiffness around the ankle/achillies, hobbling down the stairs for a minute until it has flexed and warmed up. I've had one massage and a tight calf was mentioned, two days later a 2 mile run was fine, next day I ran and seems back to square one.
I was aiming to run a half marathon in 7 weeks time however looks like I may have to pull out.
I'm seeing my physio again on monday.
What do I do and what training do I do

[Travs]

I had a similar problem several years ago. I tried to 'run through it', but unfortunately the only way I could get rid of it was to stop running entirely for about 5 weeks. By no means does that mean you can't exercise. I was fine using a cross trainer for a good hour a day, and I was also training for an amateur kickboxing fight at the same time, but just meant no running.

I also had treatment at the physio, about 5 visits for ultra-sound and massage. But I think stretching properly was the biggest thing. The best stretch I found (and I still do it after every training run) is to put both hands on the floor, and both feet out behind you, also flat on the floor. Obviously your arse is now sticking in the air, and keep your head and shoulders down until you can feel the stretch through your calves into your Achilles. Can also do this one leg at a time (my preference), for a harder stretch.

[Mike T]

http://www.ouh.nhs.uk/oxsport/inform...chilles_a5.pdf

[philbrynmaen]

Hi Andypye...usual caution about suggestions as injuries are often different. I found stopping running did not help. Instead I eased off the hills and ran gently for a few weeks. Three times a day I did a series of calf/achilles stretches - heel drops with toes on step with both straight leg and bent leg. I also found that any running show with a heel tab is a problem so I got a bread knife and cut off the tabs from some soon to be retired trainers and used these. Lots of good free stuff on the web for this type of injury. Good luck with your recovery

[mr brightside]

It could be achilles bursitis, i had that recently. It seemed to hurt when i sat up on the ground on my heels if you know what i mean, the sort of position one might adopt to change a car wheel.

[Stolly]

After some advice.
I have recently rejuvenated by motivation and over the past month was enjoying putting a few extra miles in, even joined the local club and got some hill seasions too.
However I seem to be going from one injury to the next which is annoying.
My recent injury is showing the symptoms of achillies tendonitis. There is no push from my right calf, I can feel tightness after a mile running, and wake up in the morning with stiffness around the ankle/achillies, hobbling down the stairs for a minute until it has flexed and warmed up. I've had one massage and a tight calf was mentioned, two days later a 2 mile run was fine, next day I ran and seems back to square one.
I was aiming to run a half marathon in 7 weeks time however looks like I may have to pull out.
I'm seeing my physio again on monday.
What do I do and what training do I do

Firstly I'll qualify my response - what I'm mostly interested in is being able to run in the hills. It doesn't necessarily have to be fast running and it sure as heck needn't be a fell race but I do want to be out and up there. Soooo....

I think I ran for a good 12 months or so with what I suspect was tendonitis in one achilles before it cleared up gradually by itself - I had the usual pain getting out of bed fist thing and taking 3 or 4 miles to get warmed up (ie unpainful) when running. Then I ran for what seems like a similar period with similar tendonitis in the other ankle before... I (almost certainly) tore that achilles in 2014's Gill Garth Gallop fell race - I did it about a mile and a half from the end but still managed to keep a run of sorts going to the finish but my achilles hurt like fook and I was limping badly afterwards and was barely able to walk the following day. This injury killed what had been an almost 3 year running streak for me, running every day, so if I could have humanly run the following day I'd have tried.

Anyway my (un-formally diagnosed and un-physio'd) method of healing my knacked achilles was to then try and keep on running. Although running was realistically out for about a week I could sort of run after that, so long as I took it very carefully on climbs where my achilles was stretched to the max. In fact two weeks later me and my partner Hester back packed and semi trotted the southern stretch of the Cornsish coastpath (circa 170 miles over 10 days) and my ankle miraculously survived. A week and a half after that I even attempted the Lakeland 100 with my ankle rock-taped but, not unsurprisingly, flunked that after about 66 miles. The achilles was ironically okay(ish) but my quads were trashed early doors, probably from the recent coast path trekking and I had to dnf.

Anyhow I carried on running after that and my achilles very very gradually healed itself over the year, allowing me to be out in the hills doing what I love doing. I did stop doing short or medium distance fell races but did continue with the long distance stuff. I didn't risk starting another running every day regime though. I guess the achilles took the best part of a year to heal but I carried on running.

So, my point (if indeed I have a point) is to carry on running if you can. Its much more fun than not running..... unless you're a serious racer of course and don't mind resting up, in which case I guess a month of non-running and some physio might help

[Andypye]

Thanks for all the advice. Had some ultra sound and massage and told to still run but ease off on the hills for a while and stretch, and change my trainers. Ran 6 mile yesterday which seemed better.
Looks like Im having to admit im slowly getting older, need to adapt my training and run run run

[blencathrafrommykitchen]

http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showt...lles-tendiniti

http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showt...nosis-Recovery

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/...eel-injury.htm

Loads of stuff on earlier threads in the forum, including the links above. The good thing is that lots of people have these problems and lots seem to find a way of managing them, even if it takes time and effort.

I've had achilles problems for over 8 years but managed to race all 12 Kendal Winter League races on successive weekends this year so if my experience is anything to go by, they shouldn't mean the end of your running.