I ran with the age groupers in the Honolulu Triathlon this past weekend- had a great time, and loved watching the olympic qualifiers… BUT…
I have aggrevated an achilles tendonitis. So, right now, I am doing rest (limping, using a heel lift), ice (4x/d for 20min at a time), compression, and elevation whenever possible. I am also taking NSAIDS round the clock.
I was wondering if anyone with much experience with tendonitis could remark on anything else I can do to maximize recovery. May next race is supposed to be my “A” race for the season- a half-IM on May 30th. Does it sound out of the question? Perhaps I can just swim and bike?
Thanks for any input on how to heal fast and possibly maintain some fitness.
My rule of thumb is that any overuse, repetitive stress injury (i.e. not an impact injury), typically takes me two to three times as long to “repair” as it took to occur. One bad case of plantar fasciatis took almost 8 months to get really bad, and then took almost 4 years to completely clear up. Then again, I’m not one to really take too much time off due to nagging injuries and tend to want to train/race through them. Disclaimer: I’m not a doc. Just going off 25 years of running and tri experience.
First, let me tell you all is not lost…unless you screw around with this thing. I am a great fan of ice…but, not 20 minutes…if you are going to ice an achilles, I’d suggest at least 40 minutes at a time…you get a reflex vasodilation long icing, but it takes more than 20 minutes. However, what you probably need is electrical stimulation and HEAT, followed by ice. Connective tissue has a relative dearth of blood vessels carrying nutrients to the injury site…heat helps speed up the flow of these nutrients, but with the side effect of increased edema…that’s what ending with ice will combat. Heel lift is very good idea. Make sure your shoe heel counter is dead-on straight, I had a crooked one that about cut my last season short…but, I found out in time and just had a couple of months of tenderness. These things can be very serious, hang around for years, or, you can do the right things and sneak by without missing much. See if you can bike…if so…do more of that instead of any running…unless you run in deep water. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Be very careful with Naproxen. I recently used it (500mg, twice a day) to treat tendonitis in my elbow. It worked great for that but after taking it for a week I was playing a pick up basketball game when my legs started cramping up. I was hydrated fairly well at the time so I wasn’t sure what was causing it. While trying to loosen up again I strained a hamstring and groin that have taken me a week to recover from. I later read that Naproxen can cause cramping.
Have you worked on your soleus muscle with any massage? That will help relieve the tension on your AT. Experiement with the following tools to see which combo works best for you: kneecap of your opposing leg, knuckles, 18" wooden dowel (using the length and/or the end). Warm the muscle 1st with gentle stretching, a heat pack, etc, then massage with as much force as you can tolerate.
I posted on this topic a couple of weeks and got some great feedback! Here is what worked for me … I backed way off on my training for approx 10 days and went to see a chiropractor who is ART certified and he massaged it very deeply. It hurt like hell but I was able to run without pain the next day.
I’m just recovering from some Achilles problems. I took two weeks totally off of running and cycling. Lots of swimming during that time. After two weeks my achilles still hurt a little but I was able to do some lite cycling. Lowered the seat and that helped a lot. Also got new pedals (shimano 7700’s), my old pedals (look 396’s) and cleats were worn and had too much movement. Also for like a month and a half I was taking alieve 2 in the morn, 1 at lunch, and 2 at dinner. Its sucks because the injury takes a while to recover from. Gradually build your running back. Good luck and be patient.