Achilles tendonitis

[Dan_ref]

- Rest

- Get physical therapy. 2 or 3 times a week. It works.

- Get a prescription for anti-inflammatories. It works.

- After that, *MY* experience: heat then stretch. A lot. Then stretch some more. Inserts, wraps, whatever did not work for me. Get a new pair of shoes. Double up on socks. I didn't try orthodics. 3 aspirin before the game. Stretch, stretch before the game. Ice message after a game (freeze a dixie cup full of water. Unwrap and message the area until it's too numb feel).

Good luck. It sucks. It's bothering me again now but I'll manage until march.

[Mountaineer]

OK welcome to MY world!!!

I suffered from achilles tendonitis for a few years - taking a couple of weeks off to rest it and it always got better. Well, not always - last year it didn't get better but rather worse during basketball. It didn't get better in the few weeks between basketball and softball. I got physical therapy and massage therapy and it started to get better. During a college softball game (1 out before the game was over) SNAP! My achilles tendon completely ruptured on April 29 - surgery on May 4. To add insult to injury - when it snapped and I went down, I landed on my right wrist and fractured it. That made my recovery a lot more difficult.

Now, the therapy and massage treatments were good. The massage therapist specialized in sports massage. She discoverd that my gastrox and solieus (sp) muscles were "glued" together and she was breaking those loose. I have worn orthopaedic inserts for years so while they help they don't keep this from happening. I'm convinced that one of the contributing factors was the shoes I was wearing. I had been wear Adidas shoes that were similar to the Nike Shox. These types of shoes allow the heel to compress more and "over stretch" the achilles. Another thing - do NOT, NOT, NOT allow a doc to inject you with cortizone and take prednisone very, very, VERY sparingly. I am also convinced that my podiotrist sticking a needle in my heel contributed to my demise.

I am back on the court - amazingly - but I am struggling a LOT. Actually I'm having more difficulties from my "good" leg from favoring it so much. Guys, if you are having problems, take it seriously. Get some treatment on your leg! Stretch, stretch, stretch and then stretch some more. Get a trainer/physical therapist to show you the proper stretches. Don't think you know how to do it - get help.

The tear actually isn't as painful as you might think - lol. It hurts like h3ll but the pain sort of comes in waves. The surgery only takes a couple of hours - then your world turns upside down. The recovery is the frustrating part. I'm almost 9 months out from the accident and still struggle going down stairs and walking up and down hilly grades. I go to sleep with ice on my legs most nights. While I have had some normal games this year, I have had games this year where it was difficult to make it up and down the court. My friends laugh because I also joke about loosing that initial quick burst of speed I once had - !

Feel free to ask me any questions that I haven't answered. I am passionate about this as you might guess. I'd even exchange phone numbers with someone that wants to talk about it to get some more details.

In a nutshell: see a podiatrist and get orthotics, visit an orthopaedist and ask him to send you to physical therapy, find a massage therapist for treatment in addition to the PT, walk in a pool, stretch, stretch, stretch and then ICE, ICE, ICE. I actually stretch in the morning before I go to work.

Sorry this is so long but if it helps one person it's worth it.

[Old School]

Originally Posted by Mountaineer

I'm convinced that one of the contributing factors was the shoes I was wearing. I had been wear Adidas shoes that were similar to the Nike Shox. These types of shoes allow the heel to compress more and "over stretch" the achilles.

Bingo! Shoes are everything. Depending on how long you wore these bad shoes, depends on how deep the injury. I'll back off the shoes are bad to just the shoes are bad for your particular type of feet, and mines too. Some shoes I stay away from, and Adidas is one of them. You also have to know when your shoes go bad. The shoe can still look new but internally be no good at all, and if you continue to wear them, the damage it is doing to your feet is unbelievable! All, the minute your feet start to hurt where they had not been hurting before. Suspect the shoes. Doesn't matter if they are new, in between new and old, or old. Get another pair just to see.

Trey. The only thing I can suggest to you that either of you gentlemen has not mention. You need to put some nutrients into your system that will promote strong bones and body tissue. With the absence of this, you just need rest. I think one of the best nutrients you can put in your body to help promote strong tissue is milk. If you can't do the milk thing then do the calcium tables. Research this on the web. That's where you need to look now, imho, if you want to speed up recovery.

Last, I want to tell you a short but true story about me. About 5 to 8 years ago, give or take, I played a ton of sports. Softball, basketball, some football, year round. Over time, my knees just got to the point where they bothered me, and was very weak. When I walked around the office you could hear my knees go snap, crackle, pop. I started wearing a brace when I played. Was able to continue a couple more years after that but the effect of not having strong knees bought my competitive bb playing to an end. So I stop playing for at least 3 years, maybe longer. I kept refereeing of course but being off my knees for so long. They now have completely recovered. My knees don't bother me at all anymore and they are strong enough where I don't need to wear the brace when I do play bb. I never thought I would be able to play again without a brace. I can't believe it! I can even play competitive for about 2 breakaway layups up and down the court before I need an oxygen mask and a chair. My point is the medicine that cured me the most was rest and being off my feet. Let your body heel! It is the most important thing you if you want to get back out there. Amare Stoudemire took off two years because of a leg injury, but look at him now. He looks strong as ever and the Suns will compete for the title with him healthy.

[Karin]

2 years I suffered with this.Had electric pulse,massage,acupuncture to no avail.Some ideas heelraiser inside the inner sole of shoe,I used to get a heel lock strapping prior to games -this immobilised the tendon from over stretching through game.ICE for ever after the games.Also a great therapist put me onto a set of reps for your achilles and calves that to this day (3 years later)I do every day and touch wood I have had no repeat problems.They came from the Australian Institiute of Sport.Exercises are -get on a step that you can drop your heel from but with support for both hands e.g a doorway or stairs-let the non painful foot hang loose and use the sore foot to let your weight hang by staying on the step with the ball of your foot and your heel dropped behind.Count 10 then place non affected foot on step to take weight of your return to both feet beside each other.At first you think it is a crock but even after acouple of days I noticed an improvement.I started doing 10-15 reps each day but now it is easy to do several more and has become automatic when going upstairs at home.May not work for all-but other refs I have shown to have had success also.Good Luck