INJURY TREATMENT

Being athletic, physically active and constantly pushing your body towards better fitness, whether it be for better health or better performance in a sport, repetitive strain injuries are ever present and could hinder your performance. Being aware of them, recognizing them and preventing or treating them are important in your overall health and well being. One that I would like to touch on briefly is one that I may be experiencing myself right now. Achilles tendinitis. The Achilles tendon connects the calf muscles to the heel bone and provides power during the push off phase of walking or running. When this tendon becomes inflamed acute or chronic pain could set in making things painful and uncomfortable. However rest will often relieve the pain. Further research is showing that it may not necessarily be inflammation but degenerating tissue with loss of normal fibre structure. If left untreated or unrested chronic pain may develop into acute causing further problems. Because of the lack of blood flow and cell supply to the tendon, the healing process may be long and slow. So recognizing, rest and treatment is extremely important so the condition does not lead to rupture of the tendon. If experiencing pain in the lower calf region frequently during exercise but subsiding with rest you may have Achilles tendinitis.
Rest, ice and cold compression treatment works well to reduce swelling and inflammation. Wear a heel raise if needed to elevate the heel and reduce impact in the tendon. Check and make sure that you are wearing proper shoes for what it is you are doing. Stretching of the calf muscle as well as strengthening the calf muscles by use of high load, eccentric contraction(the "negative" lengthening of the calf muscle) slowly, has shown to work effectively at decreasing pain and strengthening the tendon. Another effective way is by way of 1 leg balance training for proprioception. Now these are just suggestions and if problems persist it is best to consult a doctor or physiotherapist for more help.
Remember to recognize and treat the problem early to minimize the problem and avoid worse injury down the road and to keep you exercising your way to better health.


Train to live, live to train TIP