Achilles Tendonitis: Coping With It And Finding Relief

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Achilles Tendonitis: Coping With It And Finding Relief

Friday, May 11th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Achilles tendonitis can happen to anyone, young or old. If you’ve been hobbling around in extreme pain and your doctor tells you that you have this injury, you’re wondering just what this means. Will you be incapacitated for weeks or months? How do you prevent this injury from recurring?

Achilles Tendonitis - What It Is

The Achilles tendon is largest tendon in your body: it joins your calf muscles to the bone. It needs to be large, because when you’re walking and running, it needs to be able to take the weight of your entire body.

Achilles tendonitis is damage to your Achilles tendon, causing irritation and inflammation to the tendon. The damage which causes Achilles tendonitis may occur from overuse in sports activities or training, and it may also be caused by arthritis, when arthritic spurs form where the tendon attaches to the heel bone.

Rest Is The Best Cure - Recovery Can Take A Couple Of Weeks

Achilles tendonitis causes pain when you’re walking, especially in the heel. Your heel and calf may be red and swollen. The initial treatment is simply rest, with pain medication like aspirin, because if you continue with the activities which caused the tendonitis, you may rupture the tendon. If the inflammation is very severe, you may need a cast to immobilize your heel until the inflammation subsides.

Once the inflammation is gone, you can begin physical therapy, which includes stretching exercises, as well as exercises to build up your calf muscles so that less pressure is placed on the tendon. Gentle yoga exercises are excellent both to stretch the tendon, and to build up muscle.

It’s vital that you start physical therapy, because once you’ve had Achilles tendonitis, the injury is likely to recur, in an even worse form, like a tear in the tendon. Your therapist will give you some exercises to do at home - they don’t take much time, just a few minutes a day.

Although Achilles tendonitis is disabling, it’s not a major injury, as long as you take the injury as a warning, and start therapy to strengthen the tendon so that the injury doesn’t recur.

[tags]tendonitis,Achilles tendonitis,injury,tendon,calf,heel,therapy,exercises,pain,inflammation[/tags]