I had tendonitis in my achilles tendon over five months ago... i took time off, why does it still bother me?

i run cross-country, i%26#039;m pretty competitive, and i really enjoy it. however, i went straight from cross-country, to indoor track, to out door track. i never took a break. i love to run. during outdoor track pain i had been feeling in my achilles got to the point i couldn%26#039;t take it any longer. i had limited flexibility and it had been bothering me for months, just not enough to really matter to me.





i saw a doctor. she told me i had tendonitis. i got new shoes, i got orthodics, i iced, i used heat, i took aleve, i massaged, i stretched numerous times a day, i even went to physical therapy. i took time off, i limited my workouts, i cut out hills.





so why am i still hurting so bad? why can i do anything until i hit a hill? what can i do to improve my condition? i%26#039;ve got another doctors appointment, but what can i do until then. our first race is in a matter of days, and the trail is hilly, what can i do?





please help me.

I had tendonitis in my achilles tendon over five months ago... i took time off, why does it still bother me?
I have had Plantar Fasciitis twice, pulled a hamstring, and pulled another ligament near the tarsal tunnel nerve (indside of the ankle). Recovery time was 8 months, 5 months, 3 months and 12 months respectively. I was training for marathons and planned to run about 3 hrs; my times for 10k races was about 35 minutes, just for reference.





I did all of the things you did, yet it still took that long before I could start to train again. And I ran scared for a few months, afraid to re-injure the areas. The good news is they all healed, although if I push I still feel some stiffness in the hamstring.





It%26#039;s hard to accept that you can%26#039;t race for a couple of months, but ligaments don%26#039;t get much blood flow and therefore can%26#039;t heal quickly. All four of the injuries I got had no warning; I stopped running when they struck and still it took forever. And I completely stopped running each time. if I were your doctor, I would put your foot in a brace to make sure you don%26#039;t try to run on it.





If you don%26#039;t let it heal, you could cause a permanent injury. Is running for the next two months worth never running again? Watch football sometime; when those guys hurt a ligament, they%26#039;re out for months even with the best medicine in the world.
Reply:Tendonisitis (which is actually a misnomer because tendons do not show signs of inflammatory cells, and rather should be called tendonopathy) is starting to be treated much differently. Previous treatment usually focused on rest, passive stretching, and modalities such as ultrasound. The current trend is to complete eccentric loading exercises which would need to be prescribed by your orthopedist or physical therapist. These exercises break up the poor cross-linked collagen fibers and help re-establish new, healthier bonds. Patient who underwent eccentric loading generally felt better, but over the course of a full year. At one year even, however, a certain percentage of people were pain-free yet undermicroscopic examination, their tendons still displayed some degree of poorly formed cells. This means that the recovery is quite long...more than a year in some cases.





Hills tend to be more painful because it increases the load on the achilles tendon.





I imagine you may be in for another round of PT...I would look for a specialist who emphasizes their practice in the mechanics of the foot and have a video analysis of your running.
Reply:Tendonitis is one of those things that may never completely go away.
Reply:The best thing you could do is get a really good podiatrist to look at your stride. It is most probable to be something wrong with your stride



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