Have you looked into shockwave therapy? I’ve been reading good things about it for Achilles issues, and it may be available on the NHS

Right – I have some good news!

I was referred to a private physio by my work as it was impacting on work. Thankfully we have a different provider now so I got some excellent care.

After a long first session of tests the physio found that as I had a weak right leg. Basically I damaged both Achilles – the left one got better quickly but the right didn’t. As a result he thinks I’d been favouring that leg for so long to reduce the pain it had been underused and become weaker. I could definitely tell very easily that I couldn’t do the exercises he was giving me on my right leg even half as well as my left.

He gave me exercises to strengthen the leg and to also re-learn my tolerance to pain in the affected area. He said that Achilles exercises alone wouldn’t work which was very true!

So after 4 sessions and putting in a lot of work myself I’m pretty much sorted and have ridden quite a bit on holiday and hoping to start running again.

I think this is a warning to people who try to self-diagnose. I would never have found out myself that this was the issue, and could have done long term damage if I went down the wrong path. I’ve had a similar experience with a damaged neck too.

I would say if you are treating the issue as soon as it happens the internet research and exercises based on that might be much better than waiting weeks for an NHS physio and worth a try before you pay for one. However if you’ve had the issue for months or years you need to see a good physio who will treat the problem at its source and correct all the issues which exacerbate the problem.

Unfortunately not all physios are good. Out of the 7 I have seen over the years only 2 treated the root cause of the issue to eliminate the problem, the other 5 treated the symptoms so the issue was relieved for a while then came back (I have a 10 year long story about my neck which I won’t bore you with!).

The best physio I went to I would gladly pay the £50 a session fee myself for the wonders they did with me.

3: Ice is good/NSAID’s bad

4: dont even think about anyone prodding it unless you want pain x 10. IME massage/poking/rubbing just made things worse.

5: Did I mention ice?

good luck, it can be debilitating…

This is competely opposite to my experience and advice from the physio who treated me successfully.

He said Heat up and gently massage the Achilles – this did wonders for the scar tissue (might not be right term- painful bumps basically) I had and they were reduced after a few days and pretty much all gone after a few weeks.

Ice reduces swelling but heat allows things to move better and increase the range of movement.

I’ve seen a couple of surgeons. Both want to operate. they’re so blasé about it.

My osteo on the other hand insists I persevere with conservative treatment. But now it’s starting to inhibit walking and every day life – the op becomes more likely.

i can ride pain free. Except for drops to flat. That stings it.

Ice is good during the injury phase particularly if your are still training. As I said I have found it is one injury which you can recover from by reducing your training type and load. If you are training then icing after a run is extremely helpful. Warm treatment may feel good but I dont think it has a benefit. If you continue to train you may find that the injury clears up (as did mine) without ever having used heat treatment which is really recommended once the pain/inflamation has passed. If you are training regularly you are always in the “icing” stage in my view.

The lumps on your achilles are unlikely to be scar tissue, I recall having lumps and bumps but they moved of their own accord. I dont mean they floated but they appeared then disappeared over weeks and the lumps themselves weren’t particularly painful, even when the area around them was. Unlike muscle scar tissue, which I think really benefits from painful cross frictional massage, the blood flow to tendons is very poor and they react in a different way. Never known any massage techniques that have done anything but make the area considerably more painful.

@newrobdob, any chance your physio is near Sheffield ?

Huddersfield – but if he was in Sheffield I’d travel there!!

Never known any massage techniques that have done anything but make the area considerably more painful.

Had to be heated a fair bit and regularly and lightly massages and it worked a treat. Benefit of a good physio who knows their stuff!!

I had a long running Achilles problem and ended up being treated on the NHS with a couple of high volume injections in each over a period of 2 years, and a long period of eccentric stretches/ strengthening.

I still get a niggle now and again but it’s been really good, I don’t run as much as I used to so maybe that’s helped too.

Read about them – https/www.google.co.uk/search?source=hp&ei=4XAZW_7sJsiogAatgoLQDA&q=achilles+high+volume+injection&oq=achiles+high+volu&gs_l=mobile-gws-wiz-hp.1.0.0i13i30j0i8i13i30l4.1386.5458..6751…1….688.2531.12j3j5-2……0….1…….3..0j35i39j0i67j0i131i67j0i20i263j0i10j0i10i70i249j0i13j0i13i10j33i160j0i22i30.SFKARXh87TQ%3D

Huddersfield isn’t too far away, plus I’ve a riding buddy up there. Got any details for this chap?

PM sent!

The more recent evidence suggested that heavy slow contraction is most effective with less emphasis on eccentric contraction. Load to the point of pain and moderate if base line pain is worse 24 hours after exercise