C
Chuck
Guest
Greetings all!
Context first, question at end.
I am a 43-yr old male (6'3", 170 lbs) who has been running for fitness
since I was a teen, and I have never had serious running-related
ailments. I have always lived in hilly areas, and I have almost always
had the same kind of running paradigm: Walk from my house down a steep
hill to a country road; run casually on the intial flat section; then
run hard on the uphill part of the run back to my home. The part of
the run on which I run hard is usually only about 2 miles. I favor
this model of running because I avoid too much downhill pounding on my
knees.
For some reason (perhaps because I started running a little longer
recently) I have recently developed some achilles strain in both ankles
(much more on the right rather than the left side however). I think
this may have been coming on for a awhile...I would sometimes feel a
little twinge of pain in my achilles (on the right) at the steepest
part of my run, right near the end, and rather than push it, I would
stop and walk the last hundred yards or so. This went on for a while
being only an occasional minor irritation. [For the record, the pain
is not low on the tendon, where it attaches to the heel; the pain is
right in the middle of the tendon, straight back from where the ankle
bone sticks out on either side]
However, now I get the pain very early in the run, or simply when I
wake up in the morning, etc. I do stretch tolerably well I think...but
I guess I could increase my stretching a bit. I laid off running for
about 5 days, but that appeared to be nowhere nearly enough rest as the
problem reccurred as soon as I ran again. There isn't tons of
pain...fortunately...but just enough to let me know that I ought to
quit before I tear something. I have never felt anything "snap" and
when I am walking around in the normal course of the day, I rarely
notice anything. For the record, I Nordic-Tracked last night, and
this did cause any pain in my achilles whatsoever.
I presume I will need to rest the achilles for a while longer...maybe I
will start testing it again with light runs in a month. I know people
recommend icing it, which I will try, but in truth, I have never found
ice that useful (exept in cocktails).
My main questions are: What kind of wraps or orthotics are recommended
to help the tendons heal and prevent them from being reaggravated when
I start trying to run again? There seems to be tons of stuff
available, but I want to make sure that I don't waste money on a
worthless product. Also, how can I tell if I have torn the tendon,
versus just strained it? Do tears heal on their own, as long as the
tendon isn't totally ruptured?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Chuck
Context first, question at end.
I am a 43-yr old male (6'3", 170 lbs) who has been running for fitness
since I was a teen, and I have never had serious running-related
ailments. I have always lived in hilly areas, and I have almost always
had the same kind of running paradigm: Walk from my house down a steep
hill to a country road; run casually on the intial flat section; then
run hard on the uphill part of the run back to my home. The part of
the run on which I run hard is usually only about 2 miles. I favor
this model of running because I avoid too much downhill pounding on my
knees.
For some reason (perhaps because I started running a little longer
recently) I have recently developed some achilles strain in both ankles
(much more on the right rather than the left side however). I think
this may have been coming on for a awhile...I would sometimes feel a
little twinge of pain in my achilles (on the right) at the steepest
part of my run, right near the end, and rather than push it, I would
stop and walk the last hundred yards or so. This went on for a while
being only an occasional minor irritation. [For the record, the pain
is not low on the tendon, where it attaches to the heel; the pain is
right in the middle of the tendon, straight back from where the ankle
bone sticks out on either side]
However, now I get the pain very early in the run, or simply when I
wake up in the morning, etc. I do stretch tolerably well I think...but
I guess I could increase my stretching a bit. I laid off running for
about 5 days, but that appeared to be nowhere nearly enough rest as the
problem reccurred as soon as I ran again. There isn't tons of
pain...fortunately...but just enough to let me know that I ought to
quit before I tear something. I have never felt anything "snap" and
when I am walking around in the normal course of the day, I rarely
notice anything. For the record, I Nordic-Tracked last night, and
this did cause any pain in my achilles whatsoever.
I presume I will need to rest the achilles for a while longer...maybe I
will start testing it again with light runs in a month. I know people
recommend icing it, which I will try, but in truth, I have never found
ice that useful (exept in cocktails).
My main questions are: What kind of wraps or orthotics are recommended
to help the tendons heal and prevent them from being reaggravated when
I start trying to run again? There seems to be tons of stuff
available, but I want to make sure that I don't waste money on a
worthless product. Also, how can I tell if I have torn the tendon,
versus just strained it? Do tears heal on their own, as long as the
tendon isn't totally ruptured?
Thanks in advance for any advice!
Chuck