Tendon trouble

[watervole]

I've been having problems with my Achilles tendons since before Redemption. Sometimes it doesn't trouble me too much, but it's a real pain if I want to dance (I only managed to dance half the Redemption ceilidh and I had to drop out of the belly dance session at Eastercon for the same reason)

When I go to the gym, I'm taking it really gently and walking on the treadmill rather than running and I've cut out the stepper alltogether. I can still walk a fair distance (I've walked into Broadstone twice this week) but I have to stop the moment it starts twinging as I know from experience it will quickly get worse if I don't relax it for a few mins.

It got worse again today while I was out at a craft/garden show. I'm not quite sure what set it off so badly, but it's really getting to be a nuiscance (and the tendon at the back of my right knee decided to play up as well).

I'm going to see a physio on Wednesday to see if there's any useful exercises I can do, but if anyone knows anything about tendon trouble, advice would be welcome.

I don't think it's related to my hypermobility, but you never know. (hypermobility - I can bend my joints a lot further than most people can)

Comments

Re: Tendon Trouble

[kat-erine.livejournal.com]

About a year ago I tore my calf muscle and partially tore my Achilles tendon. I was completely imobile for a bit, then on crutches, then on about six weeks therapy. I'm still doing some of the physio. exercises twice a day to strengthen the Achillies. If I miss the exercises I get very sore quite quickly. Apparently it could take several years before it returns to normal.

Breifly what I do is quite straight forward. I use a tallish chest of drawer to balance against and do 15 raises, going up on my toes, holding for a second and then going down slowly. Then I do 30 seconds stretch on each calf.

I've got a sheet of paper with stick picture's on of these and other exercises the physio asked me to do. If you want a copy email me and I'll send them to you.

The physio also said if it's sore to rest them and use ibuprophens as a pain killer because they are anti-inflamatory. If it's very bad you can use ice to reduce swelling, 15 mins in every hour.

Good luck at the physios.

Re: Tendon Trouble

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'll give the exercises a try.

Re: Tendon trouble again

[kat-erine.livejournal.com]

and I've just realised I didn't give you my email address. It's

Kathy-Taylor@Blueyonder.co.uk