The doc has just told me the reason twist and release didnt happen with my left spd the other day is I’ve partially torn / ruptured part of my achilies muscles(?) / tendon. Best way to describe it is I’ve got pitch but not much yaw for my left ankle. Getting a physio assesment next week but been advised to lay up.

Anyone else done this type of damage and how long does it take to get back to normal?

May depend on the severity of the injury?

Kinda depends on your chosen activity and how much you exercise. Biking shouldn’t be too bad, but I’d say stay off minimum of 2-3 weeks. if you’re a runner, a lot longer. Be honest with the level of pain. Slowly massage the tendon between finger and thumb and break down any scar tissue. Once you’re able to cycle, I’d suggest you carefully trim the backs of your cycling shoes to remove any pressure.

Not too sure how long you would be out of action for as I would guess it would depend how much the tendon had ruptured. To give you some idea of timescales I had a complete snap of my Achilles last November, spent 11 weeks in Plaster and it was March before I was back on the bike. Still limping a bit when I walk and can’t run too well – Physio tells me it can take up to a year to fully recover.

Completely snap it like mine and your looking at a year!

So def make sure it has repaired before you give it some beans 🙂

Thanks, its been a bad year for anoying injuries and illness – so many bank holidays so little biking. Was somewhat freaked when I found my left foot didnt move the same way as the right one no matter how had I stared at it and willed it to do so. Most anoying thing is 4 weeks today I was going to ride from Macclesfield to the Matterhorn.

When you do know what is what and there is a suggestion of riding again…

…get some flatties. Allows you to move the foot forward and put less stress on the calf/tendon. Wean back to SPDs later, if you must 😉

Good luck.

Good news is I’m back on the bike, with the approval of the physio. More good news – they didnt think it was the achilies tendon. Not going to bore you with what happened. Things arent quite right and will apparently take a while to settle down but I’ve just done a few miles on the flat and it feels bloody amazing.

Was it one of the small muscles that runs beside your achilles?

Kind of, ultimately the cause was trapped nerve messing up the signal to some of the muscles. It then just became an injury on injury thing.