Achilles pain
Achilles pain, sprain, or tear?
Lets dig deeper.
Your achilles is a large tendon that connects your calf muscles to your heel and helps to provide plantar flexion of the ankle (pointing the foot).
Pain in the achilles tendon can feel like tenderness along the achilles tendon or the posterior aspect of the heel that may or may not accompany swelling. You could also experience pain or tightness up into the calf muscle as well.
Achilles pain can be brought on by a few main incidents:
Quick contraction
Overuse
Weakness
If you know me, you know that I don’t accept the above as the root cause of injuries. So let’s take a deeper dive into what specifically causes the above list to happen to induce achilles pain.
Quick contraction.
Or in other words, a powerful movement such as a push off, jump, or sprint. Quick contractions in and of themselves DO NOT cause muscle strain. If that was the case, elite athletes and power lifters everywhere would be suffering pain and injury quite frequently. The only way a quick and powerful contraction could cause injury is if that tissue is WEAK. If the tissue is not trained to perform and withstand such movements, asking it to do the above can result in injury.
Overuse.
Similar to the quick contraction, if you do not progressively overload the tissues as you train, you are putting the achilles at risk of injury. This means that you cannot just go out and run 4 miles without working your way to that mileage over a period of time. Overuse can also pertain to poor movement mechanics and the calf/achilles having to compensate for muscles that aren’t doing their job.
Weakness
As mentioned above, your achilles (and all other tissues) need to be strong to perform quick and powerful movements.
What are some real reasons achilles issues pop up so frequently?
For one, we need to make sure we assess other areas other than just the achilles.
A lack of hip extension (both actively and passively) can cause the achilles to have to work harder to ‘push off’. Imagine the tiny ankle and calf muscles doing the work that the giant hip joint and gluteus muscles should be doing! This can be a huge factor into achilles issues.
Weak feet can also play a large role in achilles issues. The tendon that supports the inner arch of the foot also plays a part into ankle plantar flexion. If this muscle is weak it can cause the achilles to compensate with foot rigidity leading to ankle stiffness and further achilles issues.
Ankle range of motion is another cause of achilles issues, especially in runners. If the ankle is restricted in its active range of motion, the foot cannot land in an optimal position and again, requires more of the achilles than intended.
What do you do?
Strengthen the hip into it’s full ranges of motion and make sure you have plenty of hip range of motion
Hip CARs, glute strengthening
Make sure your feet are mobile, strong, and controlled
Calf raises with knees straight and bent, calf raises with toes extended (raised onto a 1 inch book)
Increase ankle range of motion and strength through passive stretches as well as exercises
banded ankle dorsiflexion, tibialis anterior raises
These are some really great places to start, but remember the ENTIRE body is connected and these may or may not be the root cause of your achilles issues.
Sometimes you need a professional eye to help discover the root cause of your issue to make sure that you not only get rid of your pain, but keep it away forever!
Have questions about achilles issues? Leave a comment below and lets talk!
