Achilles Tendonitis is a painful and frustrating injury that occurs in the lower calf/heel area. The reason that the injury can be troublesome is because the achilles tendon does not have a great blood supply, and, therfore, once it is over-extended or torn, it does not heel easily.
What are the causes and preventative measures for achilles injuries?
Achilles tendonitis is primarily an overuse injury. The injury can develop if you suddenly increase hills or speedwork in your training without giving your body time to adapt to the increased workload. So, make sure you gradually include hills in training. Achilles injuries can also crop up after a runner first uses spikes for a race on a hilly course. Spikes cause runners to run on their toes, which puts a lot of pressure on the achilles tendon. Therefore, it's important to try to "break in" spikes by using them in a small workout before lacing them up for a race.
Perhaps the most critical prevention technique, besides easing into intense workouts, is to make sure that the calf muscles are adequately stretched. Before and after running use the "wall stretch", where you place both hands on a wall, with one foot in front of the other, and lightly stetch the calf. Keep in mind that a tight calf is the best indicator that your achilles is about to be injured.
How do I get rid of achilles pain? As I stated earlier, trying to cure achilles injuries can be difficult. The tendon, because of the small amount of blood it receives, can be very slow to heel. Nevertheless, give these remedies a try:
- RICE: RICE stands or "rest, ice, compression, and elevation". It is the default treatment for essentially any running injury. The first letter, "R", is perhaps the most important. If you are feeling achilles pain, don't try to tough it out! Take at least two days off and give your body the chance the heal! As for the last three letters, I have found that the best way to carry out RICE is to follow this method: 1) Freeze ice in a paper cup in the freezer, 2) When frozen, take the block of ice out of the freezer and lightly massage your achilles up and down for about 10 minutes, 3) Afterward, wrap an ace bandage or towell around your achilles and, while lying on your back, prop your leg up on a chair, 4) After 10 minutes, take the towell/ace bandage off and repeat steps 1-3, 5) Try to do this at least 2-3 times per day.
- NSAIDs: "NSAID" stands for Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drug. NSAIDs include Aspirin, Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil, Motrin IB), Naproxen (Aleve).
NSAIDs do a great job at reducing inflammation in the body and promoting healing. While these drugs may help you
if you are hurt, please be careful not to abuse the drugs. Only take them for about a 2 week period because extended use
can really do bad things to your kidneys. I have heard some horror stories about runners who used NSAIDs for
months on end who are now suffering from serious kidney issues. Therefore, use NSAIDs
if you have an achilles problem, but please don't overuse them.
- LIGHT stretching: If your achilles is starting to feel better, incorporate some very light stretching
to increase mobility and lengthen the tendon a bit to promote healing. Be very careful not to overstretch. Although I have
no research to back up my opinion, I believe that overstretching is the single cause greatest of keeping runners injured. People seem
to think that hard stretching is way to cure any injury and that is simply not the case. With that said, light stretching can
help.
- See a professional: To be honest, if you really want to cure your achilles injury, stop reading my page and go see a profession sports medicine physician and/or a physical therapist as soon as possible. They can help you get back to running far quicker than any advice that I can offer you.
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