Topic: Achilles tendon inflamation

[Flow]

Sorry if this is the wrong section, mods please move the topic if this is the case.

Today I was doing gymnastics at the gym and since the past couple of months I've had pain while running. It really got to me when it made me land a horse vault badly.

I asked my coach what might the problem be and after taking a look he said that I had an inflamed Achilles Tendon. What might be the best method to cure this (over the weekend) and the best way to prevent this?

He also asked me if I had bad knees by any chance which I responded to with yes. They are stiff when I crouch down and stand up and sometimes they make creaking sounds. I told him that I was regularly taking cod liver oil (to ease the joints). However he didn't say anything further except I should get them checked out.

What would be the relevance between my achilles tendon and my knees? What should I do for my achilles tendon to get it healed over the weekend? What should I do about my knees?

All advice is appreciated.

Regards, Flow.

[Ryan Ford]

you wont fix it in a weekend. it could be tendinitis or a stress fracture in your heel and it requires a lot of rest. go see a doctor if you want to know whats best.

[Flow]

Argh I need to be back in training by Tuesday! I've been applying ice for 20 minutes three times a day and have been getting some rest...

[Ryan Ford]

Well i had both of those injuries in a 2 year period at the beginning of highschool. They definitely didnt heal in a few days. If it is an overuse injury, you have no choice but to rest it.

[The Manilla Gorilla]

best advice is go see the doctor, i had your same mentality when i first getting creaky knees., i dindt do anything about so the proble got worse and devolped into patellar tendonitis, now stairs kill me, and i wont be able to run, much less train, for at least another month and a half (ive already been out 2)

GO SEE A DOCTOR

[mmuir]

sounds like what i have...its called sever's disease...when it starts to hurt, gently pinch your lower heel...if it hurt very intensely then...its severs disease and it will take around a year to heal...severs disease is most common in young males going through a growth spurt in which the growth plate doesn't close and your heel goes through it or when your growth plate grows too quickly and your tendons near the heel and in the heel compress and aare too tight...

[mongoose348]

I cant offer much but i would recomend stretching when you can and just dont do anything intense for a while.

[Chris Salvato]

Over the weekend won't do.  What is so important at the beginning of next week?  Are you doing olympic trials?  Are you just eager to get back to training?

If there is something important and you NEED to perform, you need to wrap your ankle PROPERLY and perform as best you can and then ice it and rest for as LONG as you possibly can.  Performing, if you absolutely MUST (for olympic trials or something), may increase your recovery time and/or cause irreparable damage....especially with a tendon inflammation.

For inflammation, you need to rest it, and follow HI-RICE...

H - Hydration
I - Ibuprofen (If there is a lot of pain..)

R - Rest
I - Ice
C - Compression
E - Elevation

Throw some massage in there too....but most important do NOTHING for at least a month...at least.  Tendon damage can take over 100 days to heal...so ride out the inflammation until it is gone and then see if the tendon is damaged (5 minutes of use will tell you this).  If its damaged, you need to rest -- for a long time.

[Ken PKChiro]

again, I would emphasize that we should not diagnose on these forums (mmuir), ESPECIALLY based on the "you must have what I have" syndrome.  I won't even get into the use of the term "disease"... here's a question, has anyone ever heard of a disease that only affects the achilles tendon? (cough), then it wouldn't be a disease then wouldn't it?  disease is a systemic thing. 

Therefore, the question is not what can do you do about your tendon getting inflammed as much as what is causing it.

check your shoes, are they high tops?  are they rubbing on your achilles?  Are you doing a lot of high impact?  are your ankles strong enough to take whatever impact your giving them?  the way someone diagnosis achilles tendonitis, is they look at it and it is swelling, chronically... and they go, "that must be achilles tendonitis!"  in other words, "look, there's inflammation that keeps coming back!"

so again, ask the right questions.  not how to cure the trash diagnosis, but what is causing the symptom in the first place.  keep your eyes sharp, and stop doing whatever's aggravating it, that easy.