The Achilles’ heel for some runners is the Achilles tendon. That’s because the Achilles tendon—a cord-like structure that connects the heel to the calf muscles—has a fairly limited range of motion. It can get overworked pretty easily. To make matters worse, blood flow to the area is poor, so it takes a while to get loosened up. If you have Achilles tendinitis, you’ll know it because nothing else causes sharp pain in that area. The pain, which can also be a burning sensation, will be anywhere from an inch above your heel to the bottom of your calf. In bad cases, you’ll be able to see how inflamed the tendon is, because it will be visibly swollen compared to your healthy Achilles tendon.
Achilles tendinitis is often caused by many of the same things that lead to plantar fasciitis, including tight calf muscles and overpronation. Sometimes it can be caused when the back of your shoe sits too high against your heel. (This is why you’ll see many running shoes with notches at the top of the heel counter.) In addition to the standards of icing, anti-inflammatories, and cutting back on your running if your normal form is altered, here’s another trick for beating Achilles tendinitis:
Wear heel lifts in your street and running shoes until the problem goes away. The lifts will take some of the pressure off your inflamed tendon by elevating it. A simple, at-home method is to cut a half-circle that fits your heel from corrugated cardboard. Be sure to put a new one in at least once a day as the cardboard gets compressed. In the long term, be extra careful about stretching, and get out of the habit of wearing high-heeled shoes, which can shorten and tighten your calves and Achilles tendons.
No comments:
Post a Comment