Diagnosis
She confirmed that I have an achilles tendonopathy on the left side but there didn't seem to be any partial tear. On examination I was surprised at just how painful it was when pinched though!
Causes
Underlying problem is something that comes on with age but that isn't necessarily the main or only cause. It wasn't a result of disparities in muscle length, calf tightness or restricted ankle mobility as they were all tested. It wasn't due to over pronation as she checked me out on a treadmill. It could be the change in shoes (so she advised me to ditch them just in case) but I'd been running in flat Innov8s for much of the winter with no problems so she was by no means certain that they played any part. Beyond that there was nothing obvious. On the downside I'd hoped for something concrete so that I could eliminate it but on the upside it didn't seem to bother the physio unduly.
Treatment
Eccentric strengthening exercises, 2x20 morning and night for the next 2 weeks, with icing following, then go back again. If that's gone ok then she'll add in some more exercises and will allow a very slow, gradual and cautious return to running. The exercises will need to continue "not for days or weeks but for months".
Prognosis
Fair. She's hopeful that whilst fully repairing and strengthening the tendon will take months that during this time at least I'll be able to do some sort of running. Moreover she thinks this approach should make it manageable if not completely cured. However, as she can't see an obvious cause its still possible that there is some minor breakdown in my gait that has become inherent and can't be controlled in which case I'd need to go down the podiatrist route. Fingers crossed I don't.
6 comments:
At least now you know for sure, and can get on with the exercises to strengthen and help it.
Great, you have had it confirmed and have a schedule to repair it. Its going to be tough to do them regularly but will help.
Glad to hear that. Much more positive than you were feeling initially, right? And now you have someone monitoring and tracking your progress which must be helpful :)
Fingers crossed everything turns out well for you: at least you now have a plan of action.
I'm off to Google those eccentric calf exercises now as they do sound very intriguing.
xxx
Excellent! I'm really glad that you got to see the physio.
I know you probably wanted to hear that it was just a 'insert something that takes only 2 days to heal' but I think it was clear that it was going to take a bit longer than that.
I think having the exercises to do really helps with the mental aspect of it all. At least if you are doing 'something' then you can feel like you will be fit again soon.
Rosexx
That's a nicely detailed diagnosis and good to hear you can be on the right track to improve things.
As Alison said, it's probably quite confidence boosting to know you've got someone keeping an eye on progress who's able to modify and tweak things if the improvements aren't as good as they should be.
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