First signs of Achilles Tendon problem!

[John Picton]

John, thanks for the response. Is there anything that you can do to alleviate the pain that you feel while you walk? Do doctors recommend some sort of ace bandage , etc.? That stepping motion is definitely aggreviating and slowing the recovery process.

Also, do you think that switching to an ibuprofen pill from Aleve would quicken the process?

By the way, it is just the left side of the Achilles tendon that hurts, and I am starting to wonder if this happened when I clicked out?

I think that your achilles injury was more severe than mine. I stayed off my feet as much as possible, luckily I found this fairly easy as my job doesn't require me to walk around. With me, it was the right side of the left leg / ankle area where the pain was. Even comparing my two feet now I can still see the left ankle with a slightly swollen appearance (hardly noticable but it's there) due to the scar tissue.

I used an ibuprofen tablet first, then saw some ibuprofen gel in a store and started using that. Think it was psychological more than anything, as you are applying the gel straight to the pain, although it probably makes little difference compared to a tablet.

Recovery is very slow, so you may find that stepping isn't infact slowing it down, it just takes bloody ages regardless!! The key is rest. The doc didn't suggest anything to me other than an anti-inflamatory and rest. He also said to stop taking the ibuprofen when the creaking / swelling had stopped (around a week for me) and just let it recover.

It's always hard to say when the injury happened, but when you clicked out then you were probably warmed up so maybe this is unlikely. I got mine half way through a ride after stopping for half an hour and foolishly not warming up or stretching properly before hitting a hill straight away.

Whatever you do, don't even look at the bike until you are fairly happy you are pain free, then start again gently.

 

[RSSrsvp]

My foot felt great on Sunday and it was a picture perfect day in NYC, so I went for a ride. I covered 12 miles along the bike path on the Hudson River on totally flat terrain, and rode at a moderate pace. My Achilles tendon still feels fine today. Next weekend, weather permitting, I will go for a longer ride but will still stick to flat terrain as I don't want to press my luck.

 

[ausgirl]

I've got over an achilles tendon injury a couple of months ago. You have to be really careful with this type of injury.

What happened to me was that I was doing a bunch ride on one of our normal courses - I've probably ridden that course 100 times in the past. About halfway through and around 30km from home i got this pain in my achilles which occurred with every pedal stroke. I went to the physiotherapist a couple of days later because it was still sore - it hurt just going up and down stairs. It turned out that i just had a very small tear in the tendon. The physio recommended time off the bike, strapping the achilles and massaging it in the way that she showed me a couple of times a day to prevent scar tissue forming. I had to do strength exercises after a while too. I ended up going to the physio regularly for about 10 weeks. I was off the bike for 10 weeks in the middle of my road season, because of a stupid little injury and we couldn't figure out what had caused it - that is me, coach, bike mechanic, physio and podiatrist friend couldn't find a cause for it.

If you have an achilles tendon that is sore for more than 1 or 2 days, take time off of the bike and go straight to the physiotherapist before you make the tear any bigger.

 

[babybirdie]

Its time to start paying close attention to how you are riding.
Particularly your feet and ankles. Alot of times, we tend to let our ankles relax, or just one, and that causes your heel to drop down which stretches your AT.
When your AT is stretched out and you start climbing, it gets put under a great deal of stress which can cause slight tearing or other damage.
Next time you ride, start off normally and after a few minutes, see what your ankles are doing. I hope this helps, and good luck.

 

[wiredued]

I think achilles tendon trouble can be from magnesium deficency but I am not sure I think I read it in a book Bill Sardi wrote you can contact him at his web site www.billsardi.com You might want to avoid tea also I think the flouride level in one cup of black tea is over the RDA and can calcify tendons when high.

I am currently resting off the bike (first day in a planned one week) due to a slight inflammation of my achilles tendon in the left leg.

I think it happened a week ago when I hit a couple of hills pretty hard. I didn't feel anything pop or snap, but towards the last 10km of a 60km ride I could feel the pain, not horrific but certainly noticeable.

I continued my daily commute (around 25km there and back) through last week and felt ok apart from one day when I was aware of the pain again, though not as painful as it had been on the hills. On Saturday (a week after I think it happened) I did a short, gentle run of around 25km and felt no pain, but I could feel a slight "creaking" in the tendon. This prompted me to do some research.

After reading about the condition I decided to stop cycling for at least a week. I may take a couple of Ibuprofen to bring the swelling down. I'm sure that I have caught it in early stages and would rather be sensible than risk causing more damage.

Does anyone have any specific advice of how long I should rest, or what I should do when I start cycling again. I've read a couple of threads in the forum but would be interested to hear from anyone who has been in this position before, and what they did to ensure they didn't cause any lasting damage (and if it worked!).

 

[closesupport]

I've got over an achilles tendon injury a couple of months ago. You have to be really careful with this type of injury.

What happened to me was that I was doing a bunch ride on one of our normal courses - I've probably ridden that course 100 times in the past. About halfway through and around 30km from home i got this pain in my achilles which occurred with every pedal stroke. I went to the physiotherapist a couple of days later because it was still sore - it hurt just going up and down stairs. It turned out that i just had a very small tear in the tendon. The physio recommended time off the bike, strapping the achilles and massaging it in the way that she showed me a couple of times a day to prevent scar tissue forming. I had to do strength exercises after a while too. I ended up going to the physio regularly for about 10 weeks. I was off the bike for 10 weeks in the middle of my road season, because of a stupid little injury and we couldn't figure out what had caused it - that is me, coach, bike mechanic, physio and podiatrist friend couldn't find a cause for it.

If you have an achilles tendon that is sore for more than 1 or 2 days, take time off of the bike and go straight to the physiotherapist before you make the tear any bigger.

was you and are you still riding with the same pedals / shoes and cleats?

I was lead to believe that steroids weakened tendons and ligements, through endurance exercise?.

 

[ausgirl]

was you and are you still riding with the same pedals / shoes and cleats?

I was lead to believe that steroids weakened tendons and ligements, through endurance exercise?.

I am still using the same pedal/shoes/cleats set up, but this is one of the things we looked at when trying to figure out the cause. I had 2 bike mechanics check out my set up in the pedals, and my coach checked out my pedaling action on the bike. The podiatrist even had a good look at the shoes i'm wearing. The best theories i can come up with is i've heard that at certain times of the female menstrual cycle tendons are more prone to injury (hormonal fluctuations and all that). The other theory is that my tendon was weak and i might have stepped the wrong way or something the day before, damaging it and paid the price for it on the ride - problem there is that the pain didn't start till at least 25-30km into the ride.