Mid-portion Achilles Tendinopathy

What does it feel like?

• Pain and stiffness in the Achilles’ tendon which is worse in the morning and post rest.
• Typically the stiffness starts to ease once you begin moving, only to return once you stop.
• The Achilles’ tendon can be swollen and feel thickened.

How can it start?

A relative increase in physical activity where the tendon is being over used, exceeding it’s capacity and ability to recover. The onset is typically gradual but can occur from a single event.

Examples:

• A return to running or an increase in hill running, volume or speed.
• Starting a new walking/running program
• Changing the heel-toe drop of your footwear

What aggravates the symptoms?

Movements that use the Achilles e.g. walking, running, jumping.

What are other associated factors?

• Reduced calf strength and endurance
• Ofloxacin use (a quinolone antibiotic)

Here’s how Osteopathic Therapy can help:

We Investigate:

1. We will explore historic load to your Achilles, searching for patterns of sudden relative increase.
2. We will locally test your Achilles and lower body biomechanics, strength and endurance for possible factors which may contribute to the symptoms.

We Diagnose:

We will diagnose your condition and rule out other causes of pain e.g. Achilles tear or rupture, other local tendinopathies e.g. tibialis posterior, ankle joint impingement, sural nerve pain or Sever’s disease

We Treat:

Treatment modalities include joint mobilizations, soft tissue therapy and progressive exercises to allow for adequate stimulation and recovery of the Achilles tendon

And finally, we will provide Exercise & Lifestyle Advice:

We will advise how much and how frequently to perform exercise e.g. when to back off and when to push and how long to expect the recovery process to take. We will provide detailed advice on how to return to full training.