ACHILLES TENDONOPATHY ADVICE

The Achilles Tendon can commonly become inflamed in runners. This will be due to inappropriate footwear, overdoing training, weakness or abnormal biomechanics around the foot and ankle. If untreated, this problem will lead to degenerative changes to the tendon and reduce it's force producing capacity. This will lead to further injury and loss of performance.

 

Achilles Tendonitis is characterised by pain just above the heel bone, particularly first thing in the morning it can be exquisitely painful! It may well ease as you run and then be more painful afterwards.

 

Physiotherapists should identify the cause of the problem and use hands on skills to release any of the structures around your calf and Achilles that may be responsible for creating the problem. They may use acupuncture to release tight muscles and reduce pain. They will teach you exercises to stretch and strengthen the Achilles particularly heel raising exercises which can help strengthen the tendon and allow it to adapt to load again.

 

If there are any structural problems in your foot, you may be referred to a podiatrist for further analysis. It may be that it will require the use of orthotics to settle the problem.

 

It can take up to three months to recover from an Achilles Tendon injury even with physiotherapy.