2 weeks ago I irritated my achilles towards the end of an 11 mile run. The lower calf tightened up, the achilles was swollen and movement became very tight and painful (especially 1hr after the run). I saw my doctor, who referred me to a Physio. Physio thought it was tendonosis, gave me some stretching exercises to do and said I could begin running once I can do 20 heel raises and hop on the leg (which was unthinkable at the time).
12 days later I could do the heel raises and hop, so I went for a short run/walk (1 min run, 2 min walk * 5 repeats). The run was uncomfortable, but the pain was bearable. The achilles and lower calf felt tight, but the pain lessened with time. After the run there was some swelling, so I iced it, and the next day walking is OK but I probably couldn’t run. So the question is am i meant to do this run/walk as part of rehab, even though it hurts, or am I meant to forget running until this doesn’t hurt at all?
I would probably wait until you see the swelling disappear. I stopped running after my achilles for about a month. It was just too painful and felt like I was just making it worse. Did some ART and that didn’t seem to help much. Then did about 5 sessions of Graston and that helped and been doing very slow runs and slowly adding the miles now. Actually just did HIM Racine last Sunday and the achilles didn’t bother me.
Can you bike? I have been doing 2-4 hour bike sessions on it with no problem. Actually I think it even helped with the recovery.
x2.
I ran thru it last year training for NYC marathon. After 9 months off I just started running again.
Take a shorter break now or a much longer break later.
I had it in the spring. I would recommend the graston, ART, but also doing heel raises every day for a month. I saw an article that said the heel raises permantely heeled the tendonitis in a majority of cases. I am still doing them every other day along with hip drops.
Unfortunately in my case I think althought the archilles got better teh injury travelled and is in my knee now. I guess running while injured put strain on my knee tendons.
Also second the ART route as it’s worked for me. If you feel your Achilles tendon and it’s just inflamed and not lumpy you’re OK just take some time off of running and do the rehab. If its lumpy it’s partially torn and running on it would be monumentally silly.
I irritated my achilles in the midst of an easy eight miler which put me out for about two weeks. After two weeks of treatment I was able to run again with no pain. Here is what the athletic team trainer at my college reccomended:
Take 3 Ibuprofen two times a day for 4-6 days (reduced swelling- always take with food).
Do calf raises every day…starting with 40 and increasing 10 per day.
Ice two times a day (54 degree icebath is ideal).
Stretch- I noticed that tight muscles were really root cause of the original achilles problems.
Foam Roller- If it is no too painful use lightly…messaging the achilles will increase blood flow to the area thus decreasing pain and promoting healing/
In regards to training:
Swim Laps - This always made my achilles feel WAY better.
Bike - if not too painful
Water Running - this is perhaps the best of both worlds.
x2.
I ran thru it last year training for NYC marathon. After 9 months off I just started running again.
Take a shorter break now or a much longer break later.
I had a slight flare up of achilles tendonitis this spring, and was able to start running regularly after a few weeks…
what helped me best besides the regular stretching and therapy(I had ART)… warm up with some calf raises before the run starts. I did make the mistake of adding a trail run in there which aggrivated it, and you can’t run uphill either, so keep it flat and easy for a few weeks while bringing things back up.
personally, i am a fan of cross friction massage, with ice. Ideally, i use either a frozen paper cup of water, peel paper down, and rub achilles (not length-wise, but across it) for 5 minutes; or i just freeze a plastic water bottle, lay the bottle on the floor (or desk) and put my achilles over it, put my other foot over the bad one (cross my legs) and then gently roll my leg back and forth (NOT rollling the bottle, but log-rolling my leg–again so the pressure is going across the achilles). If i don’t have access to ice, then I just I grab my achilles almost like pinching it. I gently pinch/squeeze moving slowly up and down the area of tenderness, increasing the squeeze as tolerated.
In fact if it hurts when i pinch i know i need to back off running
This plus stretching and exercises as others have mentioned is key for me.
I’ve had achillies difficulties for the entire 20 years I’ve been doing tri’s. I blew my achillies almost 25 years ago, carrying monster loads on a hiking trip through the Rockies. It was soooooo bad I had a 3 day internal battle with myself whether I’d just have my buddy hike out and get a chopper for me! We took a couple of extra days to complete the trip, with me hobbling badly with a giant achillies. He took as much weight from my pack as he could tolerate, bless his soul.
I have learned to manage it now and my rule is that if I have ANY pain/doscomfort walking on it, I don’t even THINK of running on it. Any swelling? Same thing.
I ice it, voltaren gel and self massage it a couple of times a day for about a week longer than I think I should. And I focus on my swim training while running is off limits.
Several people mentioned calf raises…I have to disagree. Do eccentric calf drops. In addition, do them with a weighted backpack.
Raise up on your good leg, switch to your injured leg and lower on a 3 count. Raise back up on the good leg…lather, rinse, repeat.
I am struggling with the exact same issue as you. After suffering from Achilles tendinosis from 2009-2010, I finally got it squared away. Now after having ITBS flare up in March, my right Achilles is sore after running. I am letting pain be my guide. If my calf is not tight, and there is no pain in the Achilles, I do short runs. If it is sore the next day, I won’t run again until I am pain free. Could be as much as a week.
IMO, stressing it is crucial to healing, but you don’t want to push past stressing it and into inflicting further damage. It is a fine line…letnthe pain be your guide. But since the injury just happened, I would suggest 2 weeks off completely tomget things moving in the right direction.
Several people mentioned calf raises…I have to disagree. Do eccentric calf drops. In addition, do them with a weighted backpack.
Raise up on your good leg, switch to your injured leg and lower on a 3 count. Raise back up on the good leg…lather, rinse, repeat.
I am struggling with the exact same issue as you. After suffering from Achilles tendinosis from 2009-2010, I finally got it squared away. Now after having ITBS flare up in March, my right Achilles is sore after running. I am letting pain be my guide. If my calf is not tight, and there is no pain in the Achilles, I do short runs. If it is sore the next day, I won’t run again until I am pain free. Could be as much as a week.
IMO, stressing it is crucial to healing, but you don’t want to push past stressing it and into inflicting further damage. It is a fine line…letnthe pain be your guide. But since the injury just happened, I would suggest 2 weeks off completely tomget things moving in the right direction.
I second this. My pt (also a running coach) told me to never stretch my achilles as it works like a spring. You never want to stretch it. You want to stretch the gastrocs and soleus, but not the achilles. Eccentric calf drops are the way to go. Both with the leg straight and with the knee bent (15 x 3 sets both ways on each leg). Has worked for me every time.
I am currently rehabbing my Achilles. My ortho says that the most common mistake people make is not taking enough time to properly recover. I am looking at about 3-4 months to get back to normal, which means I don’t do my goal race this year (Timberman)
Don’t push it. Like previous poster said, a little rest now, or a lot later.
I would do eccentric calf exercises rather than calf raises, which put more strain on the calf and achilles.
aqua running is good for maintaining run fitness while you do the eccentric exercises.