Forums >Health and Nutrition>Achilles Tendon and Medial Malleolus
Hello All,
I recently decided to try and improve my overall physical fitness by working towards a 20 minute 5k time. Once I got above approx 13kph on the treadmill I ended up changing my gait (faster speeds needed longer strides, i.e. a running gait rather than a slow jog gait). This started out without any problems, though once I reached 14kph a cluple of sessions later, I found that I started to get a slightly tense feeling in the Achilles tendon area of my left leg during/immediately after running, or when walking down stairs. I brushed it off as a pretty normal by-product of running and continued with the 5k sessions.
After my previous session, it got quite a bit worse and has recurred since. My initial thoughts were that it could be Achilles Tendonitis caused by overuse, however, over the past few days, despite having only done a single cross-trainer session with a mild half-mile jog to the gym and back, another development has occured. I'm getting fairly continuous pain in the Medial Malleolus area (which is fairly sensitive to touch), especially whenever I put weight of any sort on that foot. Again, it's also more noticeable whilst descending stairs.
I've tried the toe standing on one foot test to see if it's Posterior Tibial Tendonitis, however I can stand on my toes on the left foot with mild pain which doesn't seem to be much worse than when I stand on both feet.
Has anyone experienced similar symptoms? I know that the two main symptoms I've described csn exist amongst imdividually runners, have any of you experienced a situation where both exist at the same time or where one has caused another.
I've got an appointment with my GP in just over a week, does anyone who's here in the UK have an idea of what the NHS waiting times are like for sports physiotherapy at the moment? Am I better going private? I'm aware that some injuries can become much worse if left untreated.
Is there anything else I should be doing in the meantime? I'm thinking ice packs/paint rollers etc?
Thank you very much for any suggestions.
Take time off from running.
Ice the achilles for 15-20 minutes 2-3x a day.
Wear shoes with a higher lift in the heal (your everyday shoes)
Use a foam roller on your calves.
Don't attempt any stretching of the achilles.
You'll be fine.
Continuing to aggravate it by running more will lead to a serious condition that will prevent you from running for months. Better to take a week off now than 6 months later. Voice of experience.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
Eccentric stretching worked wonders for my achilles. I like going down stairs (or ladders) backwards slowly.
Ray
YES! The only verifiable PT that helps Achilles tendinosis! I think the OP is still in the "tendinitis" phase and doesn't have much in the way of damaged tissue, so they need to battle the inflammation and not add to the irritation.
Thank you very much for both replies, I've purchased an ice pack which is currently being cooled and I will take a look at the stretches if the GP (who I'm seeing towards the end of next week) reckons it's reached the tendonosis phase.
One thing I should perhaps mention is sitting posture. At work, I generally sit fairly high in my seat with my right foot on the floor and my left foot dangling. I have probably slipped into this habit since I need to get out of my seat a lot and in order to do so, I have to turn to the left. I tried to change this yesterday, so that my left foot is in the floor, though in the short term it hasn't made much difference.