About a year and a half ago, I was at a point where I was running on a treadmill religiously. The one running group that I ran with only met on Saturday mornings, so that left me running solo during the mostof the week. I was just starting to train for a marathon, so getting in my scheduled runs was very important. At the time, my husband was in night school two nights a week finishing his degree, so I found it much more “social” of me to be hitting the treadmill at the gym than going right home. Plus, I knew that if I went home to an empty house, I might get sidetracked and start doing other things other than run.
Hitting the gym meant hitting the treadmill. Wanting to mimic the great outdoors, I made sure to set the treadmill on at least a 1% incline. After about a month of running on it, I started to notice this weird creaking in my right Achilles tendon. The best way to describe it is this…imagine an old episode of The Munsters or The Adams Family and think about the sound effect used when a spooky old gate swings. THAT is what it felt like AND sounded like whenever I flexed my right foot. It was weird…and sounded gross. Concerned about my symptoms, I immediately headed over to WebMD.
Turns out that I either had foot cancer or Achilles tendinitis…I went with Achilles tendinitis.
Red Spot = No bueno.
Going down the checklist of typical symptoms, I knew this is what was plaguing me. Here are some things that can cause Achilles tendinitis (according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons):
• Rapidly increasing your running mileage or speed (CHECK!)
• Adding hill running or stair climbing to your routine (CHECK!)
• Starting up too quickly after a layoff from exercise (CHECK!)
• Overuse resulting from a natural lack of flexibility in your calf muscles
• Flattening of the arch of your foot
• Trauma caused by sudden and/or hard contractions of your calf muscles (such as sprints) (CHECK!)
So now that I figured out what I had, I had to figure out how to get rid of it.
The simplest solution I could find anywhere was…RICE. Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation.
I hate the RICE treatment.
Why couldn’t this be like a cut where I throw some Neosporin and a Band-Aid on it and go about my business as usual? *sigh*
I *HATE* resting. I *HATE* being kept from what I love to do most. What is even more frustrating is that the very activity that I love most is the root cause of my pain! What the heck!?
Stupidly, I tried (in vain) to run through my pain. Once I warmed up, everything felt fine. However, the second my ankle started to cool down, the creaking and popping set in again…worsening everyday. Doing more research revealed to me that Achilles tendinitis can actually develop into a chronic problem.
There is no faster way to scare the buhjeebus out of a runner than to threaten them with CHRONIC PAIN…as in scar tissue and pain everyday forever and ever. No, thank you.
Finally, I submitted…knowing that resting would be the ONLY way I would ever get to that marathon. Here are the guidelines I found for recovering from Achilles tendinitis:
MILD INJURY: 100% recovery after 2-10 days
AVERAGE INJURY: 100% recovery after 10-42 days
SEVERE INJURY: 100% recovery after 42-160 days
My recovery efforts also included keeping my leg propped up as much as possible at work (thanks to a spare empty trashcan), icing it in intervals (thanks to my squish CVS Cold Peas Therapy inserts), and keeping it compressed (thanks to my McDavid compression ankle sleeve). I would say, all in all, it took me a good 3-4 weeks to be able to run and feel no pain at all.
However, the joy of being able to run and STILL feel no pain is priceless. I am so glad I put my stubbornness aside and forced myself to rest. I am afraid I wouldn’t be running now if I hadn’t.
I am convinced that my repetitious hill intervals on the treadmill caused my problems, as Achilles tendinitis a classic overuse injury. How I hate the treadmill. But, it gives me an option to keep running on days when it is pouring down rain, below 20 degrees, or when it is just too hot for this pregnant runner to be outside. So, I am learning to love it again…or at least tolerate it. And to keep my body from ever getting close to this injury ever again, I take great care in making sure I supplement treadmill runs with outdoor runs. Outdoor runs allow my foot strike to vary more often so my muscles don’t take quit the same beating.
If you think you might be developing Achilles tendinitis, I highly encourage you to rest and incorporate these stretches into your routine. Prevention and stretching is SO important.
Stretch, stretch, and stretch some more.
What is the WORST running injury you have ever faced? How long did it take you away from running? How did you deal with it?
