Sore achilles -- cure?

I've had a sore achilles tendon for the last week or so, after a ride that was
quite a bit longer/harder than planned. I went on a moderate ride two days ago,
and it was worse afterward. How can I speed up recovery, without giving up
riding completely? Should I just cut the mileage, avoid climbing out of the
saddle (hard to do around here), or what? How about medication?

Matt O.

Slaying Patroclus usually gets Achilles back into the line. But he's
awfully ornery when that happens.

-Luigi
couldn't resist.

Matt: FYI from a recent Rec.Running thread:

Basic questions:
(*) What was the injury ?

Achilles tendonitis.

(*) When did you first notice the symptoms ?

First logged in about Nov 02.

(*) When did you realise you actually had an injury ?

Didn't really think of it as an "injury" until some time in January.

Questions that are important IMO:
(*) When did you begin treatment ?

Didn't substantially reduce milage until March, but I was icing it using a
gel pack before then, in Feb or so, I think. I don't think I took any layoff
until March.

Taking a one week layoff much earlier would have probably saved me a lot of
trouble. As it was, I spent a good 6 months with fairly erratic training,
because I wasn't able to train properly. It took a solid 6 week layoff to
really make inroads into the injury.

Achilles tendonitis does not hurt in proportion to the damage, so even though
the pain is very soft and dull, the healing time for the injury can be quite
long and the damage can be reasonably severe.

(*) What sort of treatment did you use ?

Ice, reduced training load, and rest in that order. The two things that
aggravated the injury most were long runs and speed work. A long run at a brisk
pace would cause the most severe flare-ups of the injury.

I also used a heel-lift when I returned to training.

I cannot say with a great deal of confidence that any of the treatments I used
with the exception of hard downtime had much effect. However, it is possible
that a modest amount of milage with no speed work would not have been much
different from rest.

Given the success I had in treating another soft-tissue injury (with a short
but immediate rest), I think I would have done much better if I'd got on top
of it earlier.

(*) How did you approach rehab ?

Periodically attempted to return to running, and took downtime if it hadn't
recovered. Started by doing a weekly run until it felt OK. Then jumped right
back into hard training, then came to my senses and set appropriate milage
goals.

(*) How long was it before symptoms completely disappeared ?

The injury originally came in late 2002, and the sensation of the achilles
tendon being sore when I got out of bed -- I still have it from time to time.
But it doesn't interfere with my training any more. In total, it took about
9 months, though it could have been much faster had I been more willing to
accept downtime.

(*) Given 20/20 hindsight, would you approach treatment and rehab differently
? If so, how ?

Rest for a week. Immediately.

Moderately interesting questions (but less important because causes of injury
have already been discussed to death here):
(*) Was it preceeded by any warning signs ?

Not really.

(*) Was it preceeded by ill-advised training ? Or any training that was "
ill-advised" given 20/20 hindsight ?

Running 5k at top speed for a week and doing intervals regularly .... probably
ill-advised for a beginner.

(*) Was footwear a contributing factor ?

My shoes were not a very good choice for me (NB 806), but they're what the
local FootLocker had, and I doubt they had much to do with my AT problems.

Matt-- I just posted that rec.running item regarding AT, and I want to stress 3
things from my own experience as a cyclist and a runner:

(1) It's normally due to either overuse or a change-of-use (different
equipment, riding/running differently, different terrain; (2) The Icy gel-pack
thing wrapped around the area for a good hour after workout is critical to
reduce swelling and allow the tendon to move more freely during the rest of the
day without aggravating it further, and putting heel lifts in your
walking/running shoes helps too; and (3) the recommendation about taking a week
off right away is very smart. This is an injury which nags, and doesn't heal
quickly, unless some real rest is applied, despite your strong resistance to
sitting out. Best of luck.

Sorry to keep multiple-posting here, but after all, what's the purpose of these
groups if not to reach someone who might have info for you, right? This
website has useful AT material.

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/...tendonitis.htm

"Matt O'Toole" wrote in message
...
I've had a sore achilles tendon for the last week or so, after a ride that
was
quite a bit longer/harder than planned. I went on a moderate ride two
days ago,
and it was worse afterward. How can I speed up recovery, without giving
up
riding completely? Should I just cut the mileage, avoid climbing out of
the
saddle (hard to do around here), or what? How about medication?

I had an achilles problem as I increased my ride length and solved it by
lowering my saddle and adjusting the position of my cleats.

My saddle was at a height were I couldn't maintain a good pedaling technique
and I lowered it by 1/4 inch. I also ajusted my cleats so that the pedal
spindles are positioned exactly under the balls of my feet. Before, the
balls of my feet were in back of the spindle maybe 1/8 to 1/4 inch.

After I made the adjustments, the problem cleared up in less than a week.
Also, see Sheldon Brown's website on the topic:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html

"TopCounsel" wrote in message
...
off right away is very smart. This is an injury which nags, and doesn't
heal
quickly, unless some real rest is applied, despite your strong resistance
to
sitting out. Best of luck.

Indeed. I had some minor achilles pain and proceeded to go on a gruelling
death night of activity (motorcycle drag racing..it's a long story..). The
gist is, I ended up with a small tear in my achilles and it took months to
heal. It was extremely painful at the time (and when I say extremely..) and
it's never been quite right since. I have to carefully warm-up that side
and I am concious of numerous small twinges while I'm exercising, or even
walking for that matter. My advice is do NOT overstrain that side until
your pain subsides. Normal exercise is fine I think, but no big strains.
Perhaps avoid standing up on the pedals for a while. The other advice here
is good..ice etc. My broken bones have healed better than my achilles.

Cheers,

Scott..

TopCounsel wrote:

Sorry to keep multiple-posting here, but after all, what's the purpose of these
groups if not to reach someone who might have info for you, right? This
website has useful AT material.

http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/...tendonitis.htm

Many years ago (before clipless pedals) I developed a sore achilles tendon
on longer rides. I realized that shortly before I had switched to a
different type of toeclip and when I measured it found it to be slightly
shorter. Switching back to a longer toeclip seemed to cure the problem.

The equivalent with clipless would be to move the cleat back a bit on the
shoe so your foot is slightly farther forward.

This what a podiatrist suggested for me after about 6 months of pain.
1. Heel lift till it's better. This is to change position of injured
tendons.
2. Stretch before and after rides. Very important after. Stretch with knee
slightly bent, hold for at least 2 minutes.
3. Non steroidial anti-inflamatory. I used Aleve for about 2 weeks. This
is to treat the inflamation not so much for the pain so you will need to
space out the doseage for 24 hour coverage.
Pain gone after about 2 weeks.
Chris

"Matt O'Toole" wrote in message
...
I've had a sore achilles tendon for the last week or so, after a ride that
was
quite a bit longer/harder than planned. I went on a moderate ride two
days ago,
and it was worse afterward. How can I speed up recovery, without giving
up
riding completely? Should I just cut the mileage, avoid climbing out of
the
saddle (hard to do around here), or what? How about medication?

Matt O.

"Matt O'Toole" wrote in message
...
I've had a sore achilles tendon for the last week or so, after a ride that
was
quite a bit longer/harder than planned. I went on a moderate ride two days
ago,
and it was worse afterward. How can I speed up recovery, without giving up
riding completely? Should I just cut the mileage, avoid climbing out of the
saddle (hard to do around here), or what? How about medication?

I don't know how long you should rest it, but you should definitely move you
cleats back as far as you can until things clear up (you'll have to drop your
saddle height, too). I get sore tendons sometimes from those sorts of
overachievements, but they clear up pretty fast (week or so). I'm a believer
in vitamin I (Ibuprofen).