Q&A: What can I do about pain that goes up my leg from the back of my heel?
Posted September 5th, 2007 at 1:15 PM by Martha Jones
Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab
You’re describing Achilles tendinitis, pain the large tendon that extends from in the back of your heel to your calf muscle. It hurts most when you get up in the morning and when you start to walk or run. It will heal only if you stop running and find another sport that doesn’t hurt when you do it, such as cycling, swimming, or pulling on a rowing machine.
The Achilles tendon is made up of thousands of individual fibers, like a rope with thousand of strands. The fibers can be broken if you apply a force greater than their inherent strength. No medicines hasten healing.
As soon as the tendon stops hurting, doctors usually prescribe strengthening exercises, but you have to exercise against greater resistance to become strong and strong resistance prevents healing.
If you want to return to running or jogging, start out by . . .
. . . jogging very slowly daily until your tendon starts to hurt and then quit for the day. When you no longer have any pain, you can strengthen the tendon by learning how to run fast. You must stop immediately if you feel a pulling behind your heel and each intense workout will require several easy days to allow you to recover. Try to run very fast once or twice a week, never on consecutive days.
This post is written by Dr. Gabe Mirkin, M.D. and used with permission. Dr. Mirkin is board certified in Sports Medicine and has practiced for over 40 years. He has completed more than 40 marathons and was a talk show host of a nationally-syndicated radio program for about 25 years. For more articles by Dr. Mirkin, please check out: www.DrMirkin.com
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Tags: achilles tendinitis, calf, calf muscle, dr gabe mirkin, dr. gabe mirkin, fibers, heel pain, injuries, injury prevention, injury treatment, leg pain, pain, sports medicine, strengthening exercises, tendon
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