Achilles Tendinitis (tendinopathy)

[Baron von Kriterium]

Hello. I haven't been diagnosed, but I'm assuming that is what ails me based on the pain and where it is.

Has anyone had any experience with achilles tendinitis? Any effective treatments?

It just appeared out of the blue after a football game last October. I didn't notice any pain during the game, but at work I could hardly walk. I iced it for several days and then started using heat, but the pain is still there.

Obviously, I need to see someone because hoping it goes away isn't working . Shockwave therapy seems to be the new elixir, but I strikes me as snake oil. Any experience out there?

Active Release at a chiropracter? Any recommendations? A Dr Abelson pops up in my searches. Any experience with him?

[DigitalCarpenter]

Originally Posted by Baron von Kriterium

Hello. I haven't been diagnosed, but I'm assuming that is what ails me based on the pain and where it is.

Has anyone had any experience with achilles tendinitis? Any effective treatments?

It just appeared out of the blue after a football game last October. I didn't notice any pain during the game, but at work I could hardly walk. I iced it for several days and then started using heat, but the pain is still there.

Obviously, I need to see someone because hoping it goes away isn't working . Shockwave therapy seems to be the new elixir, but I strikes me as snake oil. Any experience out there?

Active Release at a chiropracter? Any recommendations? A Dr Abelson pops up in my searches. Any experience with him?

I had this happen to me a while ago. Turns out it was gout. It creates tiny little needles made of Uric acid in your blood that gather around your feet then stab the crap out of your tendons causing them to swell.

Talk to your doctor about trying medication and see if the pain goes away.

[OMG!WTF!]

Oh yeah, this is my thing. My 35-40 year old basketball friends and I have been dropping like flies from wonky achilles tendons. I had a lump on mine and it hurt badly so I went to a chiropractor who does Shockwave therapy thinking that I would shockwave it. Turns out Shockwave isn't the thing for chronic achilles tendon issues. I forget why but she didn't use it for me.

So here's what worked really really well for me, all recommended by the chiropractor. You have to roll your calf muscle for sure.. Get a foam roller and start wallowing around on the ground like all those other weirdos you used to make fun of at the gym. You're one of them now. And it works.

You also have to stretch your entire lower leg. Stretching your calf is fine and good but you have to religiously stretch your lower calf, the soleus muscle; basically the bottom of your noticeable calf muscle to your heel. I do it by putting the ball of my foot on the third railing at the gym and pressing my heel to the ground with my upper body weight. Super important to do this.

You should probably get a massage of some sort just to learn how to get to all the hidden spots of your legs and find out what need more attention. One really important massage is accomplished by taking your thumb and index finger and squeezing from your ankle bone to you achilles. Just google achilles massage and it'll show up on youtube.

Also, your plantar tendon is likely a problem too. Roll the arch of your foot on a frozen water bottle. And look in to getting corrective orthotic inserts if you need them. They will likely cure your issue all on their own.

The most current thought I've heard is that your hips and hip flexors can cause problem in your feet. So basically, stretching and rolling your entire lower body, hamstrings and glutes especially.

In the past I've taken horse size doses of glucosamine and hyaluronic acid and not noticed any difference. But I just started using a topical magnesium gel and it is really amazing. It's supposed to increase blood flow to cells to allow for healing. It actually is noticeably soothing and effective.

You can strengthen your legs any number of ways but pushing the prowler sled is a highly recommended rehab exercise. I love it. My achilles responds well to it and it's actually pretty safe for injury rehab.

And in the future don't go from zero to 60 at any pace. Warm up, stretch, roll, start slowly, go full speed when you're 100% warm. I'm playing basketball again and it's not an issue if I warm up properly.

[DoubleF]

I would suggest the following (versus icing which IMO is uneven):

- Filling a bathtub with about 2 inches of cold, cold water (ice not necessary)
- Place affected foot/feet into the water.
- Keep in water as long as can handle (10-20 seconds?)
- Remove foot/feet and allow to warm up at room temperature for 20-30 seconds.
- Repeat steps 2-3 until approx 5 minutes have passed.
- Drain water, dry feet, try to refrain from standing too long if at all possible. (great time to kick up the feet and play some games or watch a move/Flames game)

I would further wonder if an ankle tension tension band + shoe heel slip (May need to loosen laces a little) and shoes with better arch support may be worth trying out prior to shockwave.

http://www.amazon.ca/Gleader-Silicon...oe+insert+heel

These things are like $10 a pair for the Scholls brand at most major pharmacies.

Seriously, those commercials about "gellin'" ain't jokin'. They help a lot IMO.

If above doesn't work, please consider seeing a doctor before considering shocking your feet.

[CaptainYooh]

It was a volleyball game for me that did it.

Tendinitis is a bitch. Sorry to tell you, this takes a long time to heal. Mine took one year for the constant pain to go away, but I still feel it occasionally three years later. Two things that escalated the healing process were physiotherapy and massage therapy.

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

It was a volleyball game for me that did it.

Tendinitis is a bitch. Sorry to tell you, this takes a long time to heal. Mine took one year for the constant pain to go away, but I still feel it occasionally three years later. Two things that escalated the healing process were physiotherapy and massage therapy.

I suffered through half of the CP softball season last year with the same thing.

Didn't help that I was playing co-ed volleyball at the same time.

Still dealing with it actually to the point that I may not play this year.

I will be fitted for orthotics in a few weeks so hopefully it will help.

[Baron von Kriterium]

Thank you to all for the suggestions. I'll see how things go, though joining the pick-up volleyball game at lunch didn't help.