Can someone give me some advice on the potential causes of a tender achilles, and what I can do to fix it?
Having recently been doing a lot of running and riding (long and slow winter base k’s on bike and running trails and road), I pulled up this morning with a ever-so-slight pain in my right achilles. The pain is not acute - it is more like a noticable tightness about 10cm above my ankle bone on the outside of my right leg.
As I say, the problem is not preventing running or riding, but I would be keen to identify the issue and fix it before it gets bad.
If the pain is low (4-6 cm above the heel bone) it’s likely achilles tendonitis. If it’s nearer the bottom of your gastroc (the double lump calf muscle)- it is probably the soleus muscle. This muscle is in front of the gastroc and the upper half of the achilles. It attaches to the back of the shin bone (unlike the gastroc which is attached to the back of the thigh bone (femur) above the knee.) It is a primarliy slow twitch muscle which is used a lot in cycling and distance running.
I have heard that old Look cleats are bad for the achilles? Could this be the cause?
I did a quick search on the forum, but it looks like most people have issues on the back of their calf/achilles, whereas my pain is very much on the side of the lower leg, 10cm above the ankle bone. Is the root cause still the same for both areas/tendons?
It could be one of the peroneal muscles. They pull up on the side of the foot.
The soleus is best engaged by lifting the heel when seated. If you feel just in front of your gastroc while tightening your achilles, seated) you will feel it pop out in front of and below the gastrocs.