I believe I have read somewhere that shoes with higher amounts of padding in the heel can cause Achilles tendinitis.
Curious if there is some truth to this. I suffer from Achilles tendinitis and rotate shoes. But the shoes I rotate are all have a lot of padding. They are the shoes I really like. The shoes I rotate are:
Nike Vormero
Brooks Glycerin
Mizuno Wave Riders
Nike Pegasus. These have insoles that adding padding.
My favorite are the Wave Riders. I love these shoes with Vomero being a close 2nd. All the shoes are new so they are not worn out.
I have lost any knee pain but gained Achilles problems. I assume the padding has helped my knees.
Also does the treadmill add to Achilles problems? I run a lot on the treadmill.
Do you heel strike when you run? Excessive heel striking can cause a host of foot and lower leg problems. As far as highly padded shoes causing Achilles tendonitis, I guess it could be possible if the shoes are compressing the tendon, creating an inflammatory response.
Having had achilles problems in the past, the two main characteristics of shoes that irritated it the most were too much motion control and too little drop from heel to toe (I don’t know the technical term for this), ie - the heel was too low. I suppose too much padding could cause the latter situation if it compresses a lot and lets your heel drop?
you’ll never be able to get a straight answer on heel striking/forefoot/midfoot is best because they are all ideal in different situations, speeds, distances, etc. It is usually possible to explain why one suits a specific runner better than another. For example a sprinter will never heel strike because its the best transfer of power (most efficient) since the foot becomes a more rigid lever, whereas in walking heelstriking is typically more benificial to absorb and transmit force properly through your body.
If you run primarily forefoot as you said then this puts excess pressure on your achilles tendon (along with calves, plantar fascia, and intrinsic foot muscles among others) since the normal mechanisms of dissipating the force like pronation are not allowed to function. Another post mentioned an increased heel lift alleviating the pain in his achilles. This is a way of putting a bandaid on the problem. You are essentially shortening the calves (gastronemius/soleus) and thus taking some of the tension off the achilles for the moment. It may work and decrease the inflammation and then you can go back to normal but it may also overtime lead to an increased tightening of your calves and thus exacerbate the problem.
have you ever had any other issues besides your knee? Bilateral pain? mileage? plantar fascitis?
without seeing your gait and running form i’d look at your plantar fascia, hamstrings and calves as possible areas to focus on and less so the treadmill and shoes. The shoes sounds ok and normally treadmills make things like that a bit better since they absorb shock as well. try putting a tennis ball or golf ball on the ground and rolling your foot over it as if you were giving yourself a deep tissue foot massage.
Well I guess that good lol. If you ice it after your runs for 20 min and stretch your calves a lot that should help. It might just be that your calves are really tight. Is it worse in one leg?
Well, not specific to the shoe so much, but I’ve had achilles flare-ups that appeared to correlate directly to running on soft trail surfaces; I think not having a firm enough platform to push off on seems to have a ‘pulling’ effect at the heel (imagine running in dry sand for an extreme example). I guess I could visualize a similar effect from a super-cush shoe if it results in your forefoot ‘sinking’ too much on the push-off.
I am always an advocate of switching to shoes that are as minimalist as possible. In my own N=1, combining barefoot running with training miles in LunaRacers, injuries went down by about 2/3.
That being said, my advice should be taken with a grain silo full of salt, considering I am the type of person that runs into walls while waving at a friend that is across the street.
As a general rule of thumb, Achilles’ issues tend to flare up when you are too far forward on the foot, putting too much strain on the forefoot, resulting in the calf, hamstring, and Achilles’ to do way more work than they are designed for.
Hear this all the time in folks in Wave Riders, FYI. And the newer Vomero also has a bit less heel-toe drop in it than before. My recommendation would be to see how the Glycerin does. Also check out either the New Balance 759 or the 1064. They seem to have helped many of my customers with their Achilles.
Thanks for the advice. I did not realize I also have a pair of Adidas Snova Glide that I have not worn yet.
I got a good deal buying shoes so I purchased a bunch of different ones to see what worked best.
I like the Glycerins alright and will just wear them for a while. I also think the Nike Pegasus has less padding than the Vomero without the extra padding insole.
I also have problems with my hamstring which I get ART therapy twice a week. So that might also be causing the Achilles tendon issue. Both hamstrings have tightness issues but only my right Achilles really bothers me.
Also my Achilles only bothers me in my heel. Really low on my foot not where you typically point at your achilles.
You mean, way down towards the bottom? Sorta at the very back of the heel? Nerve kinda runs that way, so it’s not surprising. Also, the attachment of the Achilles is a bit lower than where people usually experience the classic symptoms.
The Glides are a little flat, but because of how the heel is set up on them, the segmentation should slow the foot down enough in order to prevent you from putting that much pressure on that section of the foot.
Do you happen to know which model of the Pegasus you have? Certain ones have more heel than others, and I’m intrigued as to which you have…
Hamstring tightness is another classic “I run too much on the forefoot” problem. I wouldn’t be surprised if in some of these shoes, you’ve never hit the heel at all.
Are you doing hill on the treadmill? Hills will certainly irritate it.
I am convinced after years of AT trouble that that stiff heel thing that rises up so high in the back is a major irritant of the achilles. That things kind of digs in and rubs on you achilles when you run. I have gone so far as to cut it off when I was having troubles. It’s very attractive Nike Free’s are the only shoe I have found that is soft in the back but I had to give those up also due to a stress fracture.
Bought a pair of wave riders last month trying to save money from newtons and within 5 runs had developed Achilles tendinitis.
Gave them away and got a pair of Saucony Kinvara’s. After three weeks of resting, icing and massage i am finally running again, although on a slow build. Kinvaras cause no issues.
I was running 30-45 MPW in Newtons for a year months before i developed the injury. Took less than 30 miles in Wave Riders to cause it.
Pretty amazing.
Sticking with Gravitas and Kinvara’s from now on, regardless of cost.
Nike Free’s are the only shoe I have found that is soft in the back but I had to give those up also due to a stress fracture.