Sore Achilles/ankle — any suggestions for care?

[JohnStrong]

Hi I've been regularly laying waste to high knees workouts and I think it's the source of some soreness in my Achilles tendons/ankles. I mostly experience it when I wake up in the morning, leading me to think that this is mainly a healthy soreness. As I engage in my morning workouts I don't experience any pain and the soreness quickly subsides as I begin high knees combat.

If this activity is indeed the source of the soreness, any suggestions on how I might proactively care for that joint pre and post workout?

 

[AquaMarie]

I'm currently doing physical therapy for "tendon stuff" in my ankle (yes, that's a direct quote from my doctor, lol). I'm doing calf stretches and gentle massage pre-exercise, then damp heat for pain and a lot of exercises that are in the Sore Feet workout (when I can).

Naturally, if you feel like your pain is getting worse get it checked out by a doctor, but that is what's working for me. Hope this helps!

 

[Laura Rainbow Dragon]

I agree with @AquaMarie . If the pain starts to get worse while working out, back off from what you are doing and seek advice from a sports medicine specialist. If, however, your soreness goes away when you start working out, keep up with your program, but be sure to warm up the affected area really well, and add in exercises to specifically strengthen your ankles. DAREBEE has a few workouts that fit the bill:






There is also, of course, this month's challenge:



That will build some ankle strength!

 

[jma]

I had some issues with my Achilles tendon a couple of years ago and ended up going to the doctor for it. They gave me some stretches to do and they helped. They printed them out for me but they are the first 4 on this page.

 

[Henry (thinman)]

 

[Blair]

Hi I've been regularly laying waste to high knees workouts and I think it's the source of some soreness in my Achilles tendons/ankles. I mostly experience it when I wake up in the morning, leading me to think that this is mainly a healthy soreness. As I engage in my morning workouts I don't experience any pain and the soreness quickly subsides as I begin high knees combat.

If this activity is indeed the source of the soreness, any suggestions on how I might proactively care for that joint pre and post workout?

Not a doctor or PT.

I’ve dealt with many tendon issues as a long distance runner who has a history of spamming the too much too soon button. The two hardest tendon issues for me to resolve were insertional Achilles Tendinopathy (AT) and gluteal Tendinopathy.

Three pieces of advice:

1. Some tendons don’t do well with static stretches (in mid portion and insertional Achilles Tendinopathies calf stretches usually irritate more than help. Despite this they are often prescribed). My experience suggests, stay away from static stretches for tendon issues.

2. Most tendons responds very well to slow, heavy resistance training / loading (many cases of AT - especially midportional AT - respond well to progressive heavy loaded eccentric heel drops - bent and straight leg).

3. Appropriate amount and intensity of movement will keep the tendons pliable and nourished with some blood. Reduce the volume and intensity of movement to a manageable pain level (3-4/10) and slowly progress it. Make sure you have an adequate warmup prior to more intense movement (I always spend 5:00 walking before moving into a jog and then 15:00 jogging before increasing my pace to a run). Morning pain and discomfort are normal as long as they aren’t intensifying. Delayed or absent pain in the morning suggests improvement. I knew I was progressing when I didn’t have discomfort when stepping out of bed the morning after a run.

 

[JohnStrong]

Not a doctor or PT.

I’ve dealt with many tendon issues as a long distance runner who has a history of spamming the too much too soon button. The two hardest tendon issues for me to resolve were insertional Achilles Tendinopathy (AT) and gluteal Tendinopathy.

Three pieces of advice:

1. Some tendons don’t do well with static stretches (in mid portion and insertional Achilles Tendinopathies calf stretches usually irritate more than help. Despite this they are often prescribed). My experience suggests, stay away from static stretches for tendon issues.

2. Most tendons responds very well to slow, heavy resistance training / loading (many cases of AT - especially midportional AT - respond well to progressive heavy loaded eccentric heel drops - bent and straight leg).

3. Appropriate amount and intensity of movement will keep the tendons pliable and nourished with some blood. Reduce the volume and intensity of movement to a manageable pain level (3-4/10) and slowly progress it. Make sure you have an adequate warmup prior to more intense movement (I always spend 5:00 walking before moving into a jog and then 15:00 jogging before increasing my pace to a run). Morning pain and discomfort are normal as long as they aren’t intensifying. Delayed or absent pain in the morning suggests improvement. I knew I was progressing when I didn’t have discomfort when stepping out of bed the morning after a run.

Thank you for your post, great points. Thankfully this slight discomfort has revealed itself, over time, to simply be a product of improper warmup exercises. Trying to bear in mind the slow, heavy movements to get blood flowing. My 1st set is often creaky, but subsequent sets are fine.

 

[Flash_Fire]

@Blair 's answer is amazing!

some additions. When you have pain in the moring and it vanishes later, or have pain at the beginning of the workout but it subsides with warming up. Then it's not the warm up that fixed it, but certainly (light) tendon damage!

Try to find stiffnesses in your legs and work on mobilizing them, using resistance and full range of motion. This will make the muscles more supple in the long term. It most probably is calves, but problems at the hip can also affect feet, so you may want to do a throughout self-inspection. As an example, if we applied this to calves. You'd then do calf raises, but on a ledge and lower yourself sloooooly until you bottom out. And up! And repeat. (basically the eccentric heel drops Blair talked about, but this principle is applicable to every part you want to mobilize) A supple muscle will relieve tension when it is not needed and help recovery.