Lengthening the achilles tendon naturally

[sarahkelly]

This is and interetign question, and one I have myself is how does the physio know whther tightenss is comming from the gastrocs being tight or the achilles tendon being tight is there a way to differentiate: clearly after some injury of some description or pain it's easier ot see, but in the case of tightness how is it possible to know if it it the tight achilles tendon or a tight gasroc pulling on it?

[gcoe]

don't know if there is a complete answer to that question. as the muscle and tendon are continuous and integral I don't think any clinical test could pick that up. you can of course differentiate gastrocs vs soleus components as gastrocs is a two joint muscle while sole us is a one joint muscle.

it could also be a bit of an academic point - when a musculotendinous unit is allowed to shorten probably various changes happen simultaneously: the number of sarcomeres in series reduce (muscle only). abnormal production and alignment of collagen fibres throughout the connective tissue (so epimysium, perimysium, fascia and tendon). then ther may also be articular changes at the ankle due to the lack adequate dorsiflexion occurring)