I was going to title this thread morning stiffness but I figured that was just asking for trouble.
Back in early December I injured my achilles. I was on a recovery run (easy zone 1) and it just started hurting right at the insertion point. I didn’t trip or take any funny steps or anything. I nursed my way back home (it was only a 4-5 mile run and I was about halfway when it started to ache) and it got really sore that night and for the next few days it hurt like a bitch and I could barely walk. Had an MRI and was diagnosed with a very small tear at the medial insertion point. Spent December through the end of february not running but I could bike and aquajog and do the eliptical with little or no pain. Started running again, slowly and little at first, and have been back to full speed since beginning of April.
Problem is when I wake up it is stiff/tight and sore every morning. It is also stiff a little for the first mile or few minutes of each run but then it becomes unnoticeable and fine. I have no pain after running, running up hill, standing on bike etc… Also, I can put full weight on that foot and push off (ie calf press/raises etc…) I was icing it after runs when I first got back into running and it was a little sore but that only lasted a week or so and since then I have had no noticieable discomfort after running.
It is still tender to the touch however in the spot where the tear was. Someone told me I could have a small bone chip from when it tore originally. Every once in a while I will just bump my heel, like on the wall of the pool the other day when I was standing in the shallow end, and it will hurt like crazy. Much more so than it should.
Anyway, wondering if this will ever go away, or is just part of aging? I do try to stretch it 5-6 times a week and before every run. My doctor (who has run several marathons so he knows somewhat about training for distance running) said to keep stretching it and as long as it doesn’t hurt while running I should be ok. Any advice/tips on this or should I just live with it until IMoo then rest for several weeks afterwards with little or no running and see what happens?
Wow, the first part of you post discussing your time off from December to February sounds exactly like what happened to me except that I went through the trouble of going to physical therapy that whole time. Try ART right away!!! I was pain free for a while until I did an HIM with a lot of downhill running and all the old pain came rushing back. I have since had four ART appointments and while there is still some tenderness, it diminishes more after each appointment and I have been running pain-free (and have not missed a scheduled run) since my first appointment. I am training for IMLou and am now very optimistic that I can follow my training plan. Thanks Dr. Sophie Brodeur in Cincinnati! Check out activerelease.com for ART provider in your area. Hope it helps.
Yeah, I went through a few weeks of PT. It hasn’t hindered any of my running and I have not missed a run due to it since April or so. It just is a nagging ache in the morning or when I bump my heel. I have also done probably a half a dozen runs of 12 miles or more, with lots of uphills and downs, with no problem during the run or afterwards.
May want to invest in a posterior night splint to sleep in at night (esp if you sleep on your stomach). Keeps the posterior muscle group/achilles stretched all night as you sleep - wake up and voila! Better. PM if you want any details
rroof is the doc here but I will back him up, sounds like some stretching may help. As a swimmer I spent many hours with my toes pointed, all of the swimming and kicking left me with vert tight calf and achilles. I broke my ankle a few year back and in the process nearly severed my posterior tendon. After a few years of farting around trying to get it better I end up at with Indianapolis Colts Ankle Dr who does a full exam X-rays and an MRI (was ordered up by one of his underlings before I actually saw him). He looks over the x-rays and MRI, sees a bit of water but nothing major, then examines me and asks me to flex my ankle up and I can just barely go past 90 degree. He stops right there and says that your problem- you need to stretch, and stretch a lot!
I don’t use the sock Randy talks about I just made a wedge out of wood that I stretch on for about 10 min a day 3 x 3min+ sessions. Just like that pain free running for the first time ever in my life!
Same here, lifelong swimmer. Can point my toes like the dickens but do have tight calves. Not quite as bad as not getting them past 90 degrees but same thing. Being a former breastroker I can rotate me feet out way past 180 degrees though.
Stretching seems to help, the PT showed me a bunch of really good stretches to do and I try to keep up with them. Like I said, no pain during running but that stiffness in the morning is a pain in the a$$. Maybe I’ll start doing stretches right before bed.
What my doc and PT both said is anything less than 3 minutes is a waste of time. which is why i do at least 3+ minute sessions. It is amazing how far i have come on this in the last 8 months.
As far as pointing my toes- I am a total goof ball. I can only do this with my left now, I broke my right one. But when I swim a lot and my ankle has been stretched and loose I can touch the ground with my toes when I point my feet while sitting with my legs straight out. One of the PT’s I saw said she had never seen a guy that could come even close, I guess she saw women who could.
I was in a similar boat last September. I decided to just live with it until IMF and then deal with it. I’m still dealing with it. Don’t wait.
The one thing that seems to help mine get any BETTER is ecentric stretching. You do this by standing on a stair and raising up on both toes, then slowly lowering down using only the foot that has the bad achiles. I do 5-6 sets of 20-25 a day. I think I might have to do these every day for the rest of my life at this point because if I miss a day or two, it gets immediately worse. After each set I do the following stretch (hope you can picture it, if not I found it online at runnersworld.com)
Lay on your back and your knee (of the leg with the Achilles problem) out to the side (like the number 4) and pull your other knee up behind it (behind the calf). Reach your arms behind the hamstring of the leg that is behind the calf and pull towards your chest. It gives a good stretch from your hip to your knee.
Any time it starts to hurt when you run go back to aqua jogging. I think if I would have started aqua jogging before IMF I would be fine now. Instead I’m almost at the point of considering surgery (I’ve tried icing 2-3 times a day for 4 months, ART 1-2 times a week for 2 months, PT 2-3 times a week for 3 months, accupuncture 1x a week for a month)
Yeah, my PT and doc both seconded the long stretching routine and said that the people you see doing a stretch for 20-30 seconds doesn’t help much.
It’s not a pain issue, more just a constant I can expect it to be stiff in the morning, tight at the start of a run. Ran 5 miles today at lunch including a monster hill (about 400 feet rise in about 3/4 mile)…actually running up it would be an overstatement…with little or no pain once I started running.
Mine snapped on March 31st and I had surgery on April 6th. I am almost walking without a limp now. Just take care of it and listen to your body. I was playing in a basketball tournement and between games 2 and 3 my Achilles was aching, with three minutes left to go in the last game it snapped as I drove to the basket. This forum, triathlete magazine, the pool, a little volunteering, and some spectating represent my 2007 triathlon experience.
None of those sound like what I have.
My achilles is not sore, swollen etc…
I guess a better description is to say the sore/tight area is right where the achilles flares out and meets the heel bone. The sore spot is an isolated spot right at the inside of the heel about 3/4" up from the bottom of the heel. It is on the medial (inside) of the heel. I can pull, pinch tug etc…on the tendon, it’s just sore in that one very spot right where the skin is thin and the bone and achilles meet.