Is this Achilles Tendonitis or not?

[drekkly]

As an update - I wento to see a podiatrist who diagnosed heel rub from my trainers. There was a worn area (small) on my trainer at the exact same spot my achilles was sore so he reckoned that had aggravated the achilles and caused para tenonitis. He said not stretching or massaging for a couple of weeks and cut a slit at the back of the shoe to prevent any further rubbing. That was 2 weeks ago and the pain had got much better but after sone light running last night it is now sore again. On examining my old trainers I found bother trainers worn at the back at the achilles area. So that was either the cause of my initial trauma in January or it is a secondary cause and not the underlying cause - and anyway why is it only effecting one side?

I am now thinking it's an overuse injury possibly made worse by my pronation. Not sure whether to treat it the same way as the original injury now with lots of eccentric stretching and heel rises to build strenght. I am also going to look at taking my running back to basics with a move to fore foot running and ditching the stability shoes for some newtons and also some minimal trainers such as Merrels.

[sarahkelly]

Hi Drekkly,
I suspect that you have achilles bursitis, and possibly a slight Haglunds deformity (if your heel has been eroding your shoes)
Achilles Bursitis Health Byte - YouTubeYou describe it as being much different in nature from you achilles tendonopathy pain but in a similar area.
I reckon it's the bursa that's aggravated!

[Podiatry]

As an update - I wento to see a podiatrist who diagnosed heel rub from my trainers. There was a worn area (small) on my trainer at the exact same spot my achilles was sore so he reckoned that had aggravated the achilles and caused para tenonitis. He said not stretching or massaging for a couple of weeks and cut a slit at the back of the shoe to prevent any further rubbing. That was 2 weeks ago and the pain had got much better but after sone light running last night it is now sore again. On examining my old trainers I found bother trainers worn at the back at the achilles area. So that was either the cause of my initial trauma in January or it is a secondary cause and not the underlying cause - and anyway why is it only effecting one side?

I am now thinking it's an overuse injury possibly made worse by my pronation. Not sure whether to treat it the same way as the original injury now with lots of eccentric stretching and heel rises to build strenght. I am also going to look at taking my running back to basics with a move to fore foot running and ditching the stability shoes for some newtons and also some minimal trainers such as Merrels.

The heel rises sound good idea, and concentrating on muscle stretches further up the leg may help too, if you imagine, the muscles taper down to the heel, this has helped me.