Achilles Tendonitis - minimal shoes or go back to high heel? (Page 2)

Ok, just made an appointment for a chiropractor.  I am taking the advice on the thread and hoping for some ART.  I tried Graston for three weeks,(9 total sessions) and it did not provide the relief I had hoped for.  The article I read in Lava Mag had people boasting that it went completely away after a few sessions! 

I am still confused about the approach to Achilles tendonosis.(not tendonitis since I’ve had it for 4 months.)  Three quick questions-

Do I massage the tendon directly to enhance blood flow?  My PT had me do this but I have read that it only irritates the damaged tissue.

Do I heat or ice? 

Do I perform eccentric leg drops multiple times a day or do I need to wait for the tissue to heal first? 

Confused and frustrated…I can’t bike or run, help!  Darn VFF!

Sorry to hear the Graston Technique was not what you hoped.    I will tell you that my achilles pain improved very gradually.  It still gets ornery.    

  I never used heat to treat it.  Making sure that it gets warmed up carefully before running/cycling  whatever is crucial.     Ice afterward.  

Self massage?  honestly I tried that but it did not seem to help me much so I stopped doing that.   If you feel it helps you, then keep doing it.       One thing that I'm not sure I mentioned previous is that the "strassburg sock"  did/does seem to help it somewhat.  

Eccentric heal drops-  basically you are strengthening up the calf muscles.   So I would agree that you need to give it some time to recover.    That being said  I remember reading about how it was that they figured out that these heel drop/raises  actually helped.       (this is memory now so a couple of things might be wrong)       A doctor was having issues with his achilles similar to what you and I have and are going through.    He thought he needed surgery to fix it.    Insurance company would not pay for it as they thought it to be not necessary.    The guy decides he will make sure to MAKE it an insurance injury by intentionally trying to get the thing to rupture.  So he did the heel drop/raises  to accomplish this.   But not only did his achilles not rupture but he found it improved his condition dramatically.    Then this "test" was repeated again and again with others and found to be effective.       interesting huh.

Graston-  I believe that pain that I feel and was feeling are the scar tissue that forms on the achilles as it tries to repair itself.   The graston technique tries to break up the scar tissue up so that the tendon has to re-repair.    Hopefully in the same "graining"  or whatever as the rest of the tendon versus the irregular "graining" of the scar tissue.      The skill level of the person doing this technique is hugely important.   I imagine its not easy for them to know just how much pressure to apply (have the right "feel")    They need to balance pain tolerance to effectiveness.     I told my guy,  "look, you do whatever you have to do,  I will deal with the pain.  I need this thing fixed!"      But occasionally he was not there and his partner did the treatment.  I could really tell the difference.     I have had ART for other injuries and I'm a fan of it.  But I found in my case that Graston was the way.   But ya try it!   

Reality:  your Achilles will likely never return to "virgin" state.   It is what it is.   This being said, part of the pain you are feeling may always be there.   This part confused me for a long time as the Doctor/PT would never "say" this.   eventually I had a MRI  to prove that any tearing was healed.       I guess what I'm saying is   I know you are trying to do all of the right things.     In my opinion you have now been on the shelf long enough,  run a little bit,   use heel lifts to ease the burden on the Achilles.   use heel lifts in your cycling shoes.    The achilles will start feeling a bit better.    just ice it after.    Then gradually build.    At this point, unless your doctor tells you "dont run"    Its ok.  But you have to ramp up slowwwwww.       And get used to the idea that there will be some pain.  I'm very sure that its not the pain itself that troubles you.  Its the "am I ok?"   Arent I supposed to go by "listen to your body"?     Thats what I struggled with.     If you want we can chat on the phone.    PM me    and we can chat.  (next week would be better tho as this weekend is IM-WI for me)      

I replied to this right away  as  I really think I know exactly where you are with this.  It's Super frustrating thing. 

My achilles and ankle is not getting better.  I stretch.  I went to a trigger point chiro or sports doctors.  I have the orange tube.   Should I just stop the running and biking and heal then start back slow.

Ok...I think I found the combo that worked for me.  Like everything we do, it all depends on the individual.

I bucked up and went to 5 ART sessions with my chiro.  I ditched the minimal shoes although I have brand new VFF's and Addidas Climacools!  I went back to my old Nike which got me through many marathons and Ironman.  I rocked two miles this morning with no pain and hope to increase each week.  I have two sessions of ART left and my chiro wants me to use a lax ball and self active release. Look up F.A.S.T.

I guess I got caught up in this crossfit craze and wanted to test the benefits of barefoot running.  I love crossfit strength workouts but the minimal shoes combined with interval sprints killed me!

Back to fluffy Nikes and long training runs!

Oh, ART (Active release therapy) is great but $$$$.  $65 per session and my sessions only last around 20 min. 

However, considering my 4 months of traditional PT and Graston at $20 copay, it's not that bad!

I have been suffering from Achilles Tendinitis/Tendinois for about 6 months now.  I trained through it for the season (I am dumb like that).  I am finally starting to see improvement.  Here is the path I followed:

• No running since 9/4
• ART on both my Achilles and calf
• Graston on both my Achilles and calf
• Core and Leg strengthening.  I am doing a lot of Calf Drops as well as core (glutes, hips, etc...) strengthening
• Stretching the calves and hamstrings
• Nitroglycerin Patch on my Achilles

The last one is a little unique.  My doctor was telling me that due to the location of the Achilles that not much blood flow gets down there.  She has me wearing half a nitroglycerin patch applied directly to the Achilles.  I wear it for 24 hours and then switch it to a new one.  We are going to do that for 60 days.  Nitroglycerin is what they give to people who have clogged arteries.  The research has been showing that it can help heal area's of the body that struggle to get  blood flow to it (i.e. your Achilles). 

How is you achilles doing.  I have not run for 2 weeks.  Achilles is better.   I plan to slowly start back in 2 weeks.  Still getting some pain in hill.  Going to Ortho next Friday.  I went to Runtex in Austin and got special Nikes. 

How are you.  Any success stories out there?

 I injuried my achilles this summer playing too much tennis & basketball. Both were extremely tender, especially the right. It made running impossible, so I focused on home improvement projects for a month. A couple weeks ago things weren't improving, so I started to do some reading & came upon this thread. I went to my Dr. & got a referal to a Sport PT & rehab center that performs Graston.

 First thing the PT suggests is Superfeet, I also picked up a pair of Solomon XA Comp 6 GTXs to put them in. My Kayanos are getting high on miles. He also gave me some stretches & exercises. After my first treatment the pain was gone. Idiot me goes out the next day & runs 2 miles @ a 9:30 pace. I had another treatment, but my achilles were terribly sore for two days & I feared I had reinjuried them. I felt better after the third treatment & recieved my 4th & final treatment last Thursday. I've been running about 3 miles a day for the last week pain free in my achilles. I will slowly (sort of) build back my speed & distance. I really hope this is behind me. Now I need to work on a hammy that's been tweaked for like two months now, getting old is painful. Thanks again to BT for helping me find a solution.