Webchat with physio Sarah Connors

Thanks Sarah! Some great Q&As here. 

I hope you all found this webchat useful. Look out for Sarah's expert injury prevention videos coming soon to the site. 

Have a happy Valentines day all! 

Annie RW

Thanks Sarah,

I'll try the dips after work tonight

sarah asics pro team wrote (see)

Hi Geoff,

I think what you are able to see is the heel position afftecting the positioning of the achilles. If there is such an obvious curve there then I would debate as to wether you are neutral at all. It may be worth getting a second opinion from someone used to treating and looking at runners mechanics. have you done any strengtheing work for the calf achilles region to rehab them? This should include eccentric calf raises on a step. If they are sore after walking then no running at the moment try some biking. I presume you have done some stretching to the area if you've had calf physio. I would like to see you run or have another opinion but may be worth more stable shoes if you pronate. A good podiatrist may also help with assessing your mechanics.

 

sarah, i have stretched the calves on dvice of physio, everything seemed fine but i maybe wary of the calf and over compensating with other leg to cause achilles problem. i will try some cycling on the turbo trainer, should i be doing the eccentric heal raises while its sore? would complete rest be better? thanks geoff

ps its definately curved, where could i find someone who knows what they are doing rather than a shop assistant?

Hi Geoff, bit calmer now not got 60 questions to answer!!

rest initially till the acute pain settles then to build up the strength start calf raises off the flat and progress onto a step.

Was it a running shop assistant or a sports shop? Asics have a biomech lab in their London store if you are near there. If not let me know and I'll rec someone.

sarah asics pro team wrote (see)

Hi Angela, you say that calf is weak have you done anything to strengthen it up. A simple calf raising programme will help starting on 2 legs then one and initially off the floor then on a step dropping the heels. Was there a definite tear and sudden pain last year or was it a gradual onset. If it was gradual may be worth getting your back checked out to make sure the nerve isn’t tight causing the calf twinges. K tape is great if it eases your symptoms.

 

Hi Sarah,

I started doing some calf raises single leg on a step when i noticed the problem a couple weeks ago.  It seems to have gone away now.  But no, i didn't do anything particularly to rehab it once i started running again.

In terms of how the pull came about, it was certainly gradual, and I thought it was just tight calves at first, so I was just trying to stretch and foam roller, and still running, which I think made it much worse than it might have been.

Thanks for the advice!

M...eldy wrote (see)

Andre this sounds very much like an achilles issue? Are you able to be a bit more precise with the location description?  If it is the achilles then you need to tread and treat it very carefully as it has a habit of lingering and being hard to get rid of
Check out some eccentric loading exercises and in the meantime I would rest  and reassess
Could also possibly be a peroneal tendon problem and I would probably take the same advice

Thank you...But Anybody ..What are eccentric loading exercises??

Andre Hutchinson wrote (see)

M...eldy wrote (see)

Andre this sounds very much like an achilles issue? Are you able to be a bit more precise with the location description?  If it is the achilles then you need to tread and treat it very carefully as it has a habit of lingering and being hard to get rid of
Check out some eccentric loading exercises and in the meantime I would rest  and reassess
Could also possibly be a peroneal tendon problem and I would probably take the same advice

Thank you...But Anybody ..What are eccentric loading exercises??

There is a reasonable write up with pics here:

http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/injuryprevention/qt/Achilles-Strengthening.htm