Is it possible to recover by just reducing the volume of my training or do I need to abstain from cycling & running? Also, does anyone have a suugestion for treatment besides stretching, ice and elevation?
Thanks for your assistance …
I’ve been nursing mine for four weeks (except to do Ralphs last weekend) the whole time stretching, icing and elevating and found that I can ride as long as I stay in the saddle. Running is completely out right now.
Good luck and heal quick!
I had that last year after I switched from heel striking to Pose. I was in the middle of training for a marathon and couldn’t really take time off. I did cut down a bit on the volume and the intensity. In addition to the stretching, ice and elevation, I found it helpful to use a warming ointment on the achilles prior to a run. It took a couple of months for it to heal, but I was able to run the whole time.
Don
Active Release Therapy. I had what felt like Achilles tendonitis early in the season from ramping up my running mileage and my hill running too quickly. Five weekly visits to a ART practitioner sorted me out well enough to resume a full schedule fo training without heel pain (although I now spend more time stretching and massaging my calves and heels to maintain my “repair”).
1st I had my form corrected with some coaching (dunno if you visit these forums graham, but thanks!). I was striking the ground with too much of a pointed foot. My coach said I needed to have neutral ankles.
Then I took a few days off to do some extra stretching, massage and icing. That helped me make the injury more manageable. I found some big knots in my soleus and with a lot of painful massage (using wooden dowel, my fist, etc) their slowly going away.
I’m back to my regular running & adding volume. I’m even gonna attempt the local 10k run event that’s happening in a week!
Mike,
I’ve stayed away from Slowtwitch and all other tri related sites for the last two weeks because of a case of AT tendinitis. I modified my schedule a few weeks, taking short periods of several days rest then start again, get it all swollen up, stop, start… All the while I was icing, stretching, taking NSAID’s, wearing a night splint, using orthotics for heal lift, trying to avoid hills as much as possible and I new I’d have to stop a while to get over it. The advice I got was a minimum of two weeks if I stopped early or a year if I kept at it and didn’t let it heel, take my pick. I swallowed hard, skipped Ralph’s, quit all cycling and running and avoided all tri sites to help ease the pain.
This is my first time back to Slowtwitch and I see your post! So I’m dispensing my experience so far. This week after 2 weeks off I’ve done 3.5 easy hours on the bike including two yesterday and the AT feals fine. Later today I’ll head out for a flat trail run and see how that goes. First run in 3 weeks. In the meantime, I’ve been swimming (avoid kicking off the wall too hard) and some weights, stretching, taking Naproxn and wearing the night boot and orthotics.
A couple of articles that helped you can find at www.nismat.org/ptcor/eccentric_achilles and on Kevin Purcell’s web site www.coachkp.com there is a good article but I don’t have the direct link handy. Kevin is a Chiropractor, coach and experienced triathlete. Since I live close to his office, I had him examine the AT and do a electric stim treatment.
Good luck with your AT, hope you get back to normal soon.
Paul