i was fitted for the zoot advantage by a very good shoe store, i developed achillis tendonitis in my left foot. i switched to the zoot altra kane, felt good for awhile and now its back. could it be that the zoots have to much of a heel drop? not sure because i really never ran much until i got into triathlons and i went right to the zoots. so i dont have much history info. seems like if it were the shoes i would get it in both feet. whats your thoughts.
Go to a PT and have him/her check your alignment. For me it turns out I have a 1/2" leg length discrepency.
I’m not a doctor, but IMO it’s probably not the shoes. I am not sure how much drop heel-to-toe the Zoots have, but I would think the more drop there is, the more it protects the Achilles. If you put your bare foot on the ground and raise your heel, you are relaxing(not sure if this is the right word) the Achilles and not stretching it. I would likely lean more toward over use. Did you increase your volume recently? Are you running on more hills or have you increased treadmill miles recently?
I would try resting it for a few days. Ice it, stretch it. Achilles injuries are something you want to address early.
-Tim
I’ve realted my tale of Achilles woe before, but it is similar to yours. Never much of a runner (long time cyclist) who agreed to do a tri with a buddy in 2009. Was fitted for a pair of addidas shoes w/ stability by the local running shop. Shortly thereafter, I developed Achilles tendinosis. After 15 months of zero running, I investigated the whole “natural running” concept.
I had a pair of 1st generation Nike Frees that I had used as kickaround shoes. I began “running” very slow and short in them…talking 15 min / mile pace for .5 mi. Over a week, I would add 1/10th of mile if I had no residual soreness. After about 2-3 months, I was up to 1 3/4 miles and decided it was time to buy new shoes since the approach seemed to be working. I looked at a lot of the “natural running” shoes and finally settled on the Newton Gravitas. Just seemed to fit my stride / gait better. That was in November.
Last week, I hit 7 miles…the longest distance I have ever run, period. Still slow (8:30 min / mile), but improving.
I also found a fantastic PT in November that used strengthening and ART to help improve the Achilles.
All that said, “natural running” is NOT for everyone. Discuss it with a good running orthopedic doc and PT before going whole hog. I did it out of frustration and desperation…you aren’t there yet, so don’t risk making your situation worse by just jumping in.
Other suggestions:
Eccentric calf raises: Use a weighted backpack (this is key!), rise up on a stair with you good leg, switch to the injured leg and slowly lower past horizontal. Switch again to the good leg to rise back up and repeat. It is critical that you do this exercise isolating the injured leg and using additional weight. If you are just doing calf raises on the stairs w/o loading the Achilles, you are wasting your time (trust me…I did it for 8 weeks w/ no results!!)Swimming: Great rehab for the Achilles and still allows you to feel like you are training.Night brace: Get a night brace which will keep your Achilles stretched at night. This helps significantly with early morning pain / tightness in the AchillesIce massage: Don;t just ice it, get a chunk of ice and massage the entire Achilles with it.The Stick: Use this to help loosen calf muscles. I was shcked at how tight and tender my calves were when I started using The Stick.Find a good PT who understands athletes and an active lifestyle. All PT’s are not equal. Some guy who specializes in workman’s comp rehab is not gonna get you back training. Ask around with your tri buddies or local gym re: good athletic PT’s.
Good luck. Feel free to PM me for any additional details or questions.
A few other things to consider… The heel tabs on running shoes might be the cause. They tend to hit the AT in an area with little blood flow and the natural movement of running causes friction and inflamation at the tendon. Zoots do have a higher heel tab then most running shoes so they can be pulled on and off easier in transition. This will sound barbaric - but before I run a step in new shoes, I cut the heel tabs off completely.
Side story - I developed a lovely case of AT bilaterally last year after a long hike and wearing the vibrams for a while. I still have and wear the vibrams, I just butchered the heel to make them much looser on my tendons and now they are comfortable (not running in them - just walking and work and errands)
If it is just the left, consider the running surface. Running on the roads and always facing traffic? Because of the banking, there will be a signifigance diferences in the stress from left to right, with the left functionally shorter. That will cause issues along the whole kinetic chain.
Then the standard - mileage increases, intensity increases, ect. Try a different pair (brand) of shoe, different surface and see if that helps. 2x on the ART, massage, stretching, exercises and such.
I had AT problems for about a year and I do think you need more heel when you recover. The more lift in the heel, the less strain on the achilles; but there is a point where its too much. For me 8-10 mm of heel / toe drop is about that.
You are absolutely correct about the heel tabs. I went through a phase for a couple years where I cut them off also.
Have you ever found a shoe with a lower or soft one other that Nike Free 3.0 and 5.0?
I had AT problems for about a year and I do think you need more heel when you recover. The more lift in the heel, the less strain on the achilles; but there is a point where its too much. For me 8-10 mm of heel / toe drop is about that.
From my own experience, I’m not certain about the idea of more lift being beneficial. Admitedly, N=1, so bear that in mind…
But when I reached my “desperation point”, i ditched everything I had been doing up to that point. The exercises, the heel lifts in my shoes, everything. In fact, I went to a pair of ultra-flat casual shoes for everyday wear. Barely any heel and no arch support, etc. That alone seemed to provide some improvement.
I look at it this way…if you are using heel lifts, or are using a show with more heel lift, you are allowing your Achilles to contract. Ultimately, that is not what you need to heal. You need to stretch the Achilles. A night brace keeps you Achilles stretched thoughout the night. Same with shoes that have less lift (or if you remove heel lifts from your shoes). Doing so stretches your Achilles, which ultimately provides more relief. Maybe not immediately, but ultimately. Maybe the correct answer is to increase heel lift for short-term acute pain, but then reduce it for long-term improvement? Dunno…
Again, I can only relate my personal experiences and it may well be that I am an “outlier” in terms of Achilles treatment. But it was a long struggle to get here and a lot of the “traditional” approaches absolutely did not work for me.
If you’re a forefoot/midfoot striker and your heel never touches the ground, then putting a heel cup, or heel lift under you insole can relieve some of the stress on the achilles and soleous. This should be seen more as a crutch than a long term solution.
Short Term: heel lift when running, lots of ice, mild calf stretching, aggressive hamstring stretching, achilles massage, foam roll the calves, strassburg sock, no hills/speedwork.
Long Term: eccentric calf raises, improving foot strike/form, experimenting with different shoes, keep up with rolling/stretching, more running on grass/trails, always keep achilles covered w/ high/warm sock if temp is below 60.
I had AT problems for about a year and I do think you need more heel when you recover. The more lift in the heel, the less strain on the achilles; but there is a point where its too much. For me 8-10 mm of heel / toe drop is about that.
From my own experience, I’m not certain about the idea of more lift being beneficial. Admitedly, N=1, so bear that in mind…
But when I reached my “desperation point”, i ditched everything I had been doing up to that point. The exercises, the heel lifts in my shoes, everything. In fact, I went to a pair of ultra-flat casual shoes for everyday wear. Barely any heel and no arch support, etc. That alone seemed to provide some improvement.
I look at it this way…if you are using heel lifts, or are using a show with more heel lift, you are allowing your Achilles to contract. Ultimately, that is not what you need to heal. You need to stretch the Achilles. A night brace keeps you Achilles stretched thoughout the night. Same with shoes that have less lift (or if you remove heel lifts from your shoes). Doing so stretches your Achilles, which ultimately provides more relief. Maybe not immediately, but ultimately. Maybe the correct answer is to increase heel lift for short-term acute pain, but then reduce it for long-term improvement? Dunno…
Again, I can only relate my personal experiences and it may well be that I am an “outlier” in terms of Achilles treatment. But it was a long struggle to get here and a lot of the “traditional” approaches absolutely did not work for me.
Ahhhhh. Should have been clearer in my initial post. Guess what - you’re both right! How often does that happen?!
When running, you can use a heel lift (i just cut the back off an old pair of insoles) until better.
When walking around, just living your life, totally flat shoes, no heel. Sorry, no dress shoes for work. You need to find an alternative (driving mocs, boat shoes or something). This lets the achilles/calf stretch 99.9% of the time.
As long as your stretching, and once the initial pain goes away, doing calve raises will insure you don’t become dependent on the heel lifts.
I had AT problems for about a year and I do think you need more heel when you recover. The more lift in the heel, the less strain on the achilles; but there is a point where its too much. For me 8-10 mm of heel / toe drop is about that.
From my own experience, I’m not certain about the idea of more lift being beneficial. Admitedly, N=1, so bear that in mind…
But when I reached my “desperation point”, i ditched everything I had been doing up to that point. The exercises, the heel lifts in my shoes, everything. In fact, I went to a pair of ultra-flat casual shoes for everyday wear. Barely any heel and no arch support, etc. That alone seemed to provide some improvement.
I look at it this way…if you are using heel lifts, or are using a show with more heel lift, you are allowing your Achilles to contract. Ultimately, that is not what you need to heal. You need to stretch the Achilles. A night brace keeps you Achilles stretched thoughout the night. Same with shoes that have less lift (or if you remove heel lifts from your shoes). Doing so stretches your Achilles, which ultimately provides more relief. Maybe not immediately, but ultimately. Maybe the correct answer is to increase heel lift for short-term acute pain, but then reduce it for long-term improvement? Dunno…
Again, I can only relate my personal experiences and it may well be that I am an “outlier” in terms of Achilles treatment. But it was a long struggle to get here and a lot of the “traditional” approaches absolutely did not work for me.
Ahhhhh. Should have been clearer in my initial post. Guess what - you’re both right! How often does that happen?!
When running, you can use a heel lift (i just cut the back off an old pair of insoles) until better.
When walking around, just living your life, totally flat shoes, no heel. Sorry, no dress shoes for work. You need to find an alternative (driving mocs, boat shoes or something). This lets the achilles/calf stretch 99.9% of the time.
As long as your stretching, and once the initial pain goes away, doing calve raises will insure you don’t become dependent on the heel lifts.
That sounds like the reasonable approach.
im a mid foot stiker, and live in a very flat area, so no hills to run on. i run every other day im up to about 5 miles since returning from my last achillis injury in december. i took 8 weeks off. so i dont think im over doing it. i stretch my hamms everyday, do mild mid calve stretches and use the stick on my lower calves.
The achilles is a weird, weird beast. I would try all the things above - heel lifts, strasburg sock, ice, foam roll calves (better than stick in my opinion), eccentric calf raises, high socks when cold out, etc. So far, I’ve seen pretty good advice on this thread.
The big issue is that the achilles gets limited blood flow and is not protected by muscles, fat,etc. So it’s exposed and can’t heal quickly. Things that increase blood flow are good. Compression socks, a topical agent like biofreeze, alternating been ice bath/heat, etc.
Bottom line, you need to figure out what’s causing it. Muscle imbalance? tight calves? leg length discrepency? footstrike?
If nothing else works you can always try PRP therapy.
The achilles is a weird, weird beast. I would try all the things above - heel lifts, strasburg sock, ice, foam roll calves (better than stick in my opinion), eccentric calf raises, high socks when cold out, etc. So far, I’ve seen pretty good advice on this thread.
The big issue is that the achilles gets limited blood flow and is not protected by muscles, fat,etc. So it’s exposed and can’t heal quickly. Things that increase blood flow are good. Compression socks, a topical agent like biofreeze, alternating been ice bath/heat, etc.
Bottom line, you need to figure out what’s causing it. Muscle imbalance? tight calves? leg length discrepency? footstrike?
If nothing else works you can always try PRP therapy.
+1…spot on re: low blood flow to the Achilles. Makes healing a tough proposition.
Forgot to mention I had PRP as well. Provided some significant improvement in the short term. However, my immobilization following the PRP was reduced to only 1 week due to a blood clot in my calf (and eventual PE). So the limited period of immobilization likely had a negative impact on the overall benefit of the PRP treatment (recommended 3-6 weeks of complete immobility).
Note - the clot was NOT related to the PRP. I was symptomatic before the treatment but did not realize it was a clot.
PRP is 3-6 weeks off? Damn. I guess it’s not the magical treatment I thought it was. I guess in grand scheme of things, it’s not that long though and is probably worth it.
PRP is 3-6 weeks off? Damn. I guess it’s not the magical treatment I thought it was. I guess in grand scheme of things, it’s not that long though and is probably worth it.
Yup…I think it tends to skew towards the lower end, depending on how you respond, though. Bummer is it is complete immobilization…IOW, you gotta sleep w/ a walking boot on. That sucks.
Even though it was not 100% successful for me, I am a big fan. My swelling went down very quickly and my pain dropped to a 2 or a 3 while before the procedure it was a 6 or a 7, constant. The beauty of it is that there is very little downside (other than the immobilization). You aren’t cutting anything, etc. The only thing you are doing is injecting “you” into you. So even if it is not 100% successful, you really aren’t risking anything. If you gamble on surgery and it fails, you are kinda fooked, ya know?
The only thing to be aware of is that many insurance companies are not covering PRP yet. Mine covered the blood draw and Ultrasound for guiding the injections, but not the injections themselves. That cost me about $500.
Since having corrective surgery on my Achilles in 2008, the first thing I do to my GT2100 Series shoes is cut the tab off the rear upper. I’ve tried the same shoes without doing this, and would aggravate the same area repaired. I spent 10 weeks recovering from that episode, so I’ve decided it’s better to slice up my shoes, rather than my Achilles again.
If I simply walk and try to “feel” the contact between the back of my Achilles and shoe upper, there is no discernible contact. However, the irritation is undeniable during, and after a run.
I’ve lost count on how many shoes I’ve done this to, but I have yet to be sidelined by my Achilles since instituting this practice.
For what it’s worth…
Could you take a picture of this? I run in the same shoes, and have considering trying that.
Too ugly to show. You don’t want to see it!
Yes - a heel lift in the shoe to reduce the strain on the AT from running. Agree with that as long as use does not become chronic. Walking barefoot is good because is not only strengthens the muscles of the foot, it also reduces pressure on the achilles
I was talking about cutting off the heel tab…
I guess I am not the only really weird one out there! SOunds like lots of others do the same thing,
I have some photos, but am apearently not smart enought to figure out how to post them!