So many people have had a problem at some time with their achilles. I have been having a nightmare for over 18 months now. I will outline my story and it would be great if others could contribute. Have you had any problems? What were the symptoms? What started it? How long? How did you treat it? Gone away now? Exercises for it? Did you stop training?
My story
I am 31 now. I was a good runner as from the ages of 10 - 13. State cross-country stuff. I ALWAYS rode a bike as a kid but just for fun (at the age of 14, I remember cycling 18 miles to the local swimming baths for a swim and then cycling back). In high school other things took over like trying to look cool, chase girls etc. In college I played waterpolo despite being not a great swimmer but really stopped running and cycling.
From 21 to now, I was a very keen rock climber (still am) and although stayed fit from climbing to crags and mountains, other than a weekly run, I never really did much. I was always fascinated by triathlons. By now I lived in Thailand as an Economics teacher and I was running a bit more. I swam to keep fit and someone invited me to a race.
Five months later, I had done two sprint triathlons, one adventure race and a couple of 10km or 12km run races. I did the Laguna Phuket Triathlon (1.8km, 55km, 12km) in 100f degree heat over an amazingly hilly bike course and was feeling it a bit in my legs. The week after I went out for a bike and over did when my legs were not quite recovered. We rode 120km quite hard. The next day my achilles were sore and had been feeling quite stiff up to then. This put me over the top and I decided to rest immediaty.
This was in Nov. 2001. I took the required time off. I rested, got some orthotics for my shoes and took it easy. I still swam but it was not the same without a focus. Everything I did seemed to aggravate the injury. I did not run or bike. Going up stairs would aggravate it. I had some ultra-sound and took anti-inflammatories. After a long and torturous 7 months the pain seem to have subsided (one second to write but was a long, long 7 months). There was some fibrous stuff there still and it was quite stiff but not painful. I tried some cross fibre massage to get rid of it and started some light training.
Whenever I have done any training, it seems to reoccur immediately. I have tried to keep my training down to just one ride a week. A small run every two weeks and lots of swims. This is over the last few months. Even pushing off from the side of the pool causes it to inflame.
This Febuary, time had come to try and train. I kept it very, very light and sinceI have done two races. An Olympic distance and a slightly longer one. The result is that I am just back where I was 18 months a go. I should say here that I trained very, very lightly and although rode fast, ran very, very slowly and gently even in the races
In such a long time you feel that resting has not got rid of it, well I may as well train lightly. I have to exercise so I may as well do a bit. I have tried changing my bike seat height, calf massages, stretching, not sterching, resting, ice after use, shoes inserts and so on.
I have read all I can on the subject and I know there seem to be three phases to recovery for any tendon injury. I should say here I never care too much about how I do in a race I just love exercise. I am not competitive and I take part just for the fun of doing just that.
One article I read said that there were 3 phases in the healing process of any tendonitis: inflammation, proliferation, and maturation
Inflammation is probably the stage I am back to now. If I keep on re-injuring the tendon, I will never leave this stage and the injury becomes even more chronic than it is now. This is why I am resting once again.
The proliferation stage is characterized by the laying down of new tendonis fibres and scar tissue. The scar tissue is not as strong as “normal” tendon tissue and is more brittle. Stretching (warming up first and icing down afterwards) can be done in this phase of recovery. I heard this takes about six weeks.
Maturation is the final phase and I believe I had gotten there after about 8 months. The problem is whatever I did the problem came back no matter how little I did.
I know I need a good orthopaedic and physio to help me but there really are none here in Thailand who knows what they are talking about.
To say I am out of ideas is an understatement. I have just bought the most expensive shoes I can find (Asics Kayano IX) and got a new running orthotic from a mate who sent the moulds here from Germany, I did them and we sent them back with photos of my feet and the problem.
I can not face the prospect of not being able to run and bike anymore at the age of 31. I am determined to overcome this, but how? Does anyone have any ideas? At times I honestly think I am stuck with this forever and will never heal fully. What a bummer. It would be awful to not be able to run or bike or keep fit. I am not asking to be competative, better, just to be able to keep fit and race once in a while.
Lastly, I am saddled with very thin legs. This is one of the route causes I feel. I have some photos of these one with where it hurts marked on. You will be amazed by my freaky feet. An orthotic is certainly in order, but why does cycling also aggravate the injury?
Does anyone have any ideas or experiences they could share?
Should I stop training and really rest? If so for how long? I am thinking now I will rest for two full months. After that really try and work on the scar tissue and get it soft and flexible again and then try some light stretching and running once more. Ice every time and a good streching program. That said, I tried that last time and as soon as I started even a bit (10 mins very light jog) it came back. L