Achilles tendinitis

zeberleinc

I've been working hard on the elliptical machine at the gym. Got up to 3.5 miles in about 40 minutes this month. For the past 3-4 weeks I've had this pain in my heel that I ignored until I woke up one morning and couldn't walk on it. I saw the doctor and he called it Achilles tendinitis. He said I was trying too hard too fast. I'm off exercise for a week and am under orders to return to it slowly. I'm to also try other cardio type machines like the bike and rowing machine. Anybody ever had a similar experience? How slow is slow? I hate to lose the momentum I've built. My goal was to run a 5k in April. I'm afraid I'm going to push that back until I'm back up to 3.5 miles again.

Cherimoose

zeberleinc wrote: »

How slow is slow?

That's a question for your doctor, but my understanding is that anything that doesn't cause pain is fine to do. Downhill or level walking & running are less likely to strain the Achilles than uphill.

Is the pain on the bottom of the heel, or in back?

amusedmonkey

Be gentle. It took 8 months for my achilles tendinitis to stop gnawing at me because I was stubborn. Apparently it must have healed funny. I found giving myself plenty of rest between training sessions to be very effective, in addition to not working through pain if it flares up. Once I switched to exercising 3 times a day instead of every day things started getting better faster. Some websites will tell you to stretch it, just don't. It made it worse for me. Wait until it's healed a bit before you attempt to stretch it. You may also want to avoid hills like the plague for a while. Try foam rolling your calves before and after exercise (not the tendon itself) to lessing the tugging during movement and alternating hot and cold treatments after the activity.

PoundChaser2

Achilles tendinitis is EVIL.

Machka9

I tore (micro tears) both my Achilles tendons on a very long bicycle ride in 2002.

It took 6 months before they were more or less back to normal. No stretching. Nothing strenuous. And if I did exercise, I had to wrap my ankles with the Achilles tendon wrap (it's complicated ... not just rolling a tensor bandage around your ankle).

It's 2016 now ... 14 years later ... and I still have nagging problems with my Achilles tendons now and then. If I do long rides or hilly rides, I still wrap them.

amusedmonkey

To correct what I wrote yesterday, I switched from workout out every day to 3 days a week, not a day. I do still get some hints of pain when I overdo it. If your race is in April you may need to push it back. You need to give yourself at least 2 months of recovery before starting any serious training, and even then be gentle and take it slowly. That doesn't mean to completely stop training, just don't overstrain yourself that's all. If you have access to a heated pool you could do some aqua jogging for cardio to maintain your fitness while it heals.

@Machka9 could you please share the wrapping technique? I'm planning a few hikes in the near future and could use that.

zeberleinc

The pain is in the back of the heel...

I've been pain free for the past couple of days. Maybe a nagging itch once in a while where the pain used to be. The doctor hit me with a steroid shot in the hip and prescribed anti-inflammatory. I'm not exercising for one week. When I start back, I'm planning on a slow mile on the treadmill to make sure I'm not causing any pain.