sore achilles

[xaeniac]

The left achilles is tender and feels bad especially where the achilles meets the heel. Anyone have any experience with this? Should I give it a week and then possibly see a doctor? I am a runner, but can not contribute this directly to running. I ran on Thursday, but woke up on Sunday with the pain. I was great Friday and Saturday. I run in minimilist shoes and have been for over a year. Never any issues. Should I look at switching my shoes? It hurts to walk and a limp at times. I went on an elliptical today to try to loosen it up and it was probably a bad mistake as it does hurt now.

 

[tedrodai]

I've dealt with a couple of minor achilles injuries in the past. If it's painful to walk for more than a week, then yeah, see a doctor. Initial treatment is rest...avoid as much stress on it as you can. If the rest helps, you don't need to stop training, but definitely reduce the workload (on your calf/achilles) as it heals up. Avoid exercise that makes triggers tenderness or pain either during or after exercise (can be later in the day or when you wake up the next morning). That would be things that flex/extend your ankle too much or too fast (stairs, uphill running, jumping, extreme stretching, etc).

Warning: the achilles can take a while to heal, so be patient in trying not to exacerbate the injury. If the rest doesn't seem to be working, see your doc and maybe have him refer you to a physical therapist.

Regarding changing your shoes to address this problem...no one here can tell you if that would help prevent this type of injury. It depends on the specific cause. You'd need to talk to a physical therapist in order to determine that. If you're more comfortable in minimalist shoes, I'd continue using those unless a professional tells you otherwise.

 

[xaeniac]

Update:

Iced it down last night, and took an ibuprofen. Woke up and made it through the day with no pain. I was surprised this was the case as the pain I was in the last two days. I will do some weight training tomorrow as I took the day off.

 

[AeroEngy]

I don't know if your pain is exactly in the same spot as mine. However, early this summer I started having pain directly on the back of heel where the achilles attaches. It would be worse first thing in the morning or after sitting for more than an hour or so. Once I was up and around it would loosen up and be ok (not great but no limping).

This got progressively worse and I eventually went to a doctor. The diagnosis was Insertional Achilles Tendonitis. The Dr. said it was most likely caused by my calves being to tight & just stretch it a lot (15-20 x per day). He also said it probably came about because I had just started a hill training routine at the time which put to much stress on it in to short of time. He also said that I could keep running on it but to avoid hills and add a heel lift insert to reduce the strain on my achilles if needed. I did the stretches, slowed my runs, and avoided the steep hills but skipped the heel insert. I also would take ibuprofen as needed and ice it in the evenings. It probably took 4-6 weeks to go away completely.

I hope some of that helped.