Achilles Tendonitis

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I am a soccer referee and this season have developed tendonitis in my Achilles. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make it go away, other than rest? I warm up and stretch before and after and the stretching just seems to aggravate it more.

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  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 1,697 Member
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    Tendonitis needs rest. It’ll take forever to heal if you keep stretching it too much and continue to run on it.

    Very light stretching not using much ROM. If there is any pain at all it’s too much. Heating pad will drive blood flow there.
  • Djproulx
    Djproulx Posts: 3,084 Member
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    As mentioned above, rest is the real key. I learned that lesson the hard way by continuing to aggravate an inflamed tendon while training for a long course triathlon race. Ended up sidelined for over a year.

    One rehab practice from the chiropractor that helped me was self massage of the tendon. This is done by lightly rubbing the tendon between my thumb and first two fingers of my hand. The motion is the same as trying to remove chalk or dust from your fingers by rubbing them together. This light friction massage always felt soothing, unlike the aggressive work done with a Graston tool to shrink the golf ball sized knot in my Achilles when I finally sought treatment.
  • Delilahloo
    Delilahloo Posts: 16 Member
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    I have found that wearing recovery shoes while I'm at home after exercise (I love my Oofos) make an amazing difference.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    In my experience, rest is really the only remedy unfortunately. Light stretching can be helpful but I found stretching in general to be more impactful after recovery to avoid recurrence. I would also check your shoes...if they're old and/or otherwise no longer supportive that can easily lead to or exacerbate Achilles tendinitis. A big reason I came down with it was because I was exercising in worn shoes that no longer had any support...on top of that, the shoes didn't properly support my gait (designed to fix pronation when I needed a neutral shoe) and had insufficient arch support, even when new so all of this was putting a lot of stress on my Achilles.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,287 Member
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    I have suffered more than a year with tendonitis. Number one.. there are different kinds of Achillies tendonits.. The tendon in the calf.. just the ankle and just the heel. So. don't listen to advice..there is so much and a lot of it date. .. i did stretching a heel dips.. making it entirely worse.

    I'll tell you what is working for me. Dr. Feet shoe inserts... massaging my calf ..heel.. and foot with oil twice a day and in the bathtub. With your fingers.. stretch the tendon holding your heel.. and flex your foot as you do. Blood flow is minimal in the tendon and that is why it doens't heal fast.. so think of creating blood flow..

    From the hundreds of things i've watched and read.. the new thing that does work is isometric exercise of the calf. Simply. walk on your tip toes.. then I do a calf raises on both feet.. and slowly try to load more weight on the damanged foot. adding to the load over over time.. Get to the point where you can stand on the weak foot and do calf raises on that foot...or just raise up and stay put. My pain is greatly reduced.. but i am not cured yet.

    In the begining .. i found buying stretchy sports tape and taping around my ankel under the arch of my foot.. helped tremendously ..but it does nothing to strengthen and heal the tendon...but it makes you mobile and pain free.