Achilles Tendon – Rest or stretch?

I’ve hurt my Achilles tendon by running (too much beer and a little run seemed like a good idea).

It’s been sore for about 5-6 weeks now, especially when I get up in the mornings and walk down stairs, and it’s a little bet swollen about halfway down. I can ride a bike OK but it plays up if I put a big effort in such as uphills.

I’ve done the usual bloke thing and had a look on the net for a solution, I’m not going to the doctor’s as they’ll want to stick sharp bits of metal in me and that is my worst nightmare (I know, MTFU and go to doc’s, it’s not going to happen!).

Has anyone else had a similar injury, and how did you treat it?

If it has been going on for 5 – 6 weeks it is moving in the direction of becoming chronic and rest alone will unlikely help (depends what stage it is at though).
A decent physio would be a good place to start rather than Google!
However if you must dive into the murky realm of self diagnoses / treatment can Google:
1)Alfredson’s heel-drop
exercise programme (One of the early research papers looking at treatment for Achilles Tendon tendinopathy, bit to hard / demanding for most people but it will give you the general idea)
2) Jill Cook has done a lot of work on Tendons – good podcast from ‘physioedge’ number 5, some good stuff in there if you can understand it!
Again I suggest decent physio as the longer you leave it the greater chance it will become chronic and it helps to get some prober direction with treatment rather than trying something from the net.
Hope you resolve the problem soon

I had Achilles tendinitis and rode with it for months. I ended up tearing my calf muscle. See a physio, I was given stretches to do. It took 8 months to sort, I really screwed up my foot & calf through not seeing a physio for months.

Don’t ignore it. I did then one of mine snapped! Only after that did I find out it was down to posture and pronated feet. You might find some shoe inserts and physiotherapy will help.

Sports massage & physio.

Alfredson protocol is considered the gold standard for treating mid segment achilles tendinopathy. Look that up and do it lots.

It works for some.

Although it’s the gold standard at present, new research is starting to show that just continuing with normal activity is the most effective way forward.

When I had my similar injury neither of the above worked. I decided to give dry needling a go and it was cured overnight, and hasn’t returned.

Don’t ignore it. I did then one of mine snapped! Only after that did I find out it was down to posture and pronated feet. You might find some shoe inserts and physiotherapy will help.

Posture?

Posture?

Dont see why not. Anything that can increase peak force through the tendon cold help it rupture. Admittedly not likely unless the tendon is damaged already.

Same here but it was both of my Achilles, went to the Physio at my lads Rugby club and he sorted me with a bit of ultra sound and then diagnosed the route cause, a set of orthotics for my shoes, trainers and work boots and problem solved. Recommend seeing a sports based Physio

Recommend seeing a sports based Physio

Why? Most of the people I see who have achilles issue are those who sit at desks all day with their heels on the swivel base of their chair.

Got that the wrong way round. The pronated feet were contributing to bad posture according to physio. This , and the fact I can hyper extend my knees which is apparently not normal. Maybe a vicious cycle of bad feet contributing to bad posture resulting in worse feet.

Dont see why not. Anything that can increase peak force through the tendon cold help it rupture. Admittedly not likely unless the tendon is damaged already.

I wasn’t disagreeing, was asking how.

Physio is good for relieving symptoms but I’ve had achilles issues for the last year or so (and calf issues for longer) and a recent visit to the podiatrist is addressing the causes (with insoles). The end of my troubles looks to be in sight and I get to blame genetics.

Why? Most of the people I see who have achilles issue are those who sit at desks all day with their heels on the swivel base of their chair.

Cr@p, this is me! I tend to sit on my chair like a jockey with my feet back and up.

I’ve not had trouble with this before the ‘drunken running’ incident though so I suspect some sort of impact damage rather than posture problems.

Thanks for all the advice, going to sort out a physio.

It’s almost as if I have a crystal ball.

You may benefit from a couple of deep tissue massages to your lower legs. Release some of the tension that’s going through your tendon. Decent non fluffy bunny hugging massage therapist should sort you out there. Hope you have a happy ending. 😀

It’s almost as if I have a crystal ball.

That sounds like a worse problem than my ankle 😆

That does sound exactly like Achilles Tendinitis which I had 2 yrs ago. When I read up on the usual causes I ticked most of the boxes:
– middle aged
– heavy(ish) for long distance running
– recently increased training mileage
– hill running (stresses the achilles more)
I recovered by
– stopping running for a month
– massage
– doing resistance exercises on my calf at the gym or you can just do calf raises on a step
– easing back into it – gradually increasing the distance
– adding this stretch to my post run stretching

Haven’t had any problems with it since touch wood 🙂

….just remembered, I wore one of these too, while recuperating and when I resumed training

I had Achilles tendinitis, and after physio and doc consults the consensus was rest along with wearing a ridiculous plantar fasciitis splint both at night and during portions of the day. By all accounts without the splint, even at rest the Achilles’ tendon can be being stretched and annoyed….

I felt like a tool, but to be fair, the tendinitis never came back.