Achilles Tenonosis

[txmxer]

My right achilles tendon has some swelling and hurts. Other than being a little painful, it's not slowing me down too much most of the time.

Wondering if anyone has dealt with this?

Can't fix the title.
*Tendonosis

 

[SaROCaM]

Has it been diagnosed as tendonosis or is it tendonitis?

 

[brutalbrutus]

My right achilles tendon has some swelling and hurts. Other than being a little painful, it's not slowing me down too much most of the time.

Wondering if anyone has dealt with this?

Can't fix the title.
*Tendonosis

For future reference, you can fix a title before the 5min edit window is up. Just click the Go Advanced button after you hit Edit.

 

[ru4por]

Yeah...I would be interested in what sort of diagnostic and physician input you have had. My initial thought is....don't mess around with your Achilles tendon.

 

[txmxer]

Yeah...I would be interested in what sort of diagnostic and physician input you have had. My initial thought is....don't mess around with your Achilles tendon.

Yeah, I need to see the doc on it.

 

[ru4por]

Tendinosis vs Tendinitis are only a couple possible issues.

Tendinitis is an acutely inflamed swollen tendon that doesn't have microscopic tendon damage. The underlying culprit in tendinitis is inflammation.

Tendinosis, on the other hand, is a chronically damaged tendon with disorganized fibers and a hard, thickened, scarred and rubbery appearance. The underlying cause in tendinosis is degeneration.

It is important to make the distinction between the two because the ultimate treatment can be very different.

That distinction is made by a very simple musculoskeletal ultrasound examination that can be performed in the doctor's office. The ultrasound can easily detect the swelling and inflammation of tendinitis or the chronic degenerative changes of tendinosis.

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/tendinitis-tendinosis-difference-important-treatments-help/#:~:text=Tendinitis%20is%20an%20acutely%20inflamed,thickened%2C%20scarred%20and%20rubbery%20appearance.

I know you can Google as well, but I really wanted to emphasize the issues that self diagnosis can present. Heck, it might be your shoes. Keep us posted on what the doc says. :thmbup:

 

[lee76007]

My right achilles tendon has some swelling and hurts. Other than being a little painful, it's not slowing me down too much most of the time.

Wondering if anyone has dealt with this?

Can't fix the title.
*Tendonosis

11 years ago I had left Achilles' tendon reconstruction that actually started to "swell and hurt" about 6 months prior to seeing an orthopedic, and for the most part "didn't slow me down". By the time I saw the orthopedic the tendon was shredded and at that time unbearable straight to a surgery date. It took a year of pre-surgery and post-surgery to get rid of the walking boot, 2 years after that before I regain all muscle function around the ankle. That year was walking boot, surgery, cast, and walking boot muscles were locked.

5 years later the right started to bother me, I went straight to the surgeon and caught it early with a therapy program and medications. No surgery.

Bottom line: go see an orthopedic and see how far along you are, and get a plan. I hope this helps. Feel free to reach out, more than happy to help.

 

[Monocacy]

My initial thought is....don't mess around with your Achilles tendon.

^ This. Buddy of mine snapped his Achilles tendon while we were playing volleyball. His whole calf muscle retracted practically up to the back of his knee. Looked nasty, and recovery took quite a long time.

One funny thing about it: we were playing defense side by side when it happened, and his first reaction was that I had kicked him in the calf.

 

[BillFleming]

^ This. Buddy of mine snapped his Achilles tendon while we were playing volleyball. His whole calf muscle retracted practically up to the back of his knee. Looked nasty, and recovery took quite a long time.

One funny thing about it: we were playing defense side by side when it happened, and his first reaction was that I had kicked him in the calf.

I had a friend who was playing racquet ball (for those not familiar, you play on the same side of the court and hit the ball against the walls), and thought his opponent hit him on the back of the leg with his racquet. He turned around, but his opponent was too far away...when he tried to take a step and couldn't lift his heel....he knew there was a problem. Snapped the Achilles tendon.

For those of you who don't know anyone who had this happen or didn't have it happen to them....it's not fun. According to my friend, they had to cut from the ankle up the leg to find the end of the tendon....then they had to drill a hole in his ankle, pull the tendon back down and tie it in place. Took a while to recover.


Anyways....for the OP....don't take an ankle injury lightly, especially if it is your plant foot. I twisted my ankle and was done playing for 6 weeks to let it heal. Even then, my first few rounds back I was hesitant to really plant it and rotate on it.

 

[njgrosser]

My best friend's dad growing up tore his Achilles tendon during a father vs son game for our third grade basketball team. Same story - he looked back because he thought someone kicked him, but no one was nearby.

Coincidentally, he's a podiatrist (foot doctor), so he knew right away what had happened when no one was there.

Also coincidentally, I learned a lot of new words that day. Not the types you expect your best friend's dad to be yelling in a gym full of third graders.

 

[txmxer]

okay...you guys have scared the s##t out of me. Calling the doctor.

Actually, I think this is what I was looking for.

 

[txmxer]

Appt with family doc at 9:15 am tomorrow.

 

[ru4por]

Appt with family doc at 9:15 am tomorrow.

Of course doctors are all just part of a left wing conspiracy to undermine the freedoms and.......awwwww nevermind.

Good luck tomorrow. Hope you figure out what is going on.

 

[seedlings]

osis means dead. (itis means inflamed). If your tendon is dying, there is poor blood flow, probably caused by high arch, elevated heel shoes, which are just about the only shoes on the market. I wear zero drop minimalist style shoes after a severe bout of plantar fasciitis (which is often misdiagnosed, and should be fasciosis).
If you want to try some (and they are very different), search minimalist shoes on Amazon and buy for $35. If you want nicer looking, I like Lem's shoes.

Minimalist shoes with a wide toe box are the complete opposite of brand name shoes. They let your feet do the work instead of letting portions of your foot fall asleep on the job. Takes some getting used to.

If your doctor wraps your foot with an excessive feeling arch support… that may actually be the opposite of what you need. But, I'm just a guy on the internet =)

 

[wolfhaley]

Damn, you've had a rough year tx. I feel like you're on the injury report every other week.

Hope it's nothing major, or better yet nothing at all.

 

[ru4por]

osis means dead. (itis means inflamed). If your tendon is dying, there is poor blood flow, probably caused by high arch, elevated heel shoes, which are just about the only shoes on the market. I wear zero drop minimalist style shoes after a severe bout of plantar fasciitis (which is often misdiagnosed, and should be fasciosis).
If you want to try some (and they are very different), search minimalist shoes on Amazon and buy for $35. If you want nicer looking, I like Lem's shoes.

Minimalist shoes with a wide toe box are the complete opposite of brand name shoes. They let your feet do the work instead of letting portions of your foot fall asleep on the job. Takes some getting used to.

If your doctor wraps your foot with an excessive feeling arch support… that may actually be the opposite of what you need. But, I'm just a guy on the internet =)

I have a couple buddies that really like both minimalist and barefoot shoes. They are younger guys, in pretty good shape. They are pretty into the concept and like to advocate for their use.

I did a bit of research on them awhile back and kind of came away with the impression that the have some downsides. After looking at some of the research again, I was unable to find anything that specifically pointed to any Achilles benefits. Most of what I ran across pointed to there being little benefit to the general population and more benefit to the better athletes. Here are a couple of the articles I looked at for anyone to read up on these.

https://endurelite.com/blogs/free-nutrition-supplement-and-training-articles-for-runners-and-cyclists/the-truth-about-barefoot-running-and-minimalist-shoes

https://actpodiatry.com.au/barefoot-walking-and-minimalist-footwear/#:~:text=The%20benefits%20in%20minimalist%20shoes,forces%20through%20the%20knee%20joint.

 

[ChrisWoj]

^ This. Buddy of mine snapped his Achilles tendon while we were playing volleyball. His whole calf muscle retracted practically up to the back of his knee. Looked nasty, and recovery took quite a long time.

One funny thing about it: we were playing defense side by side when it happened, and his first reaction was that I had kicked him in the calf.

This is pretty common. I've heard/seen it pointed out by the broadcast team during a few NBA games, where the guys look behind them to figure out what happened before the pain really hits.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Appt with family doc at 9:15 am tomorrow.

Glad you're getting to one quickly. My only advice was going to be - nutrition and water. Do everything you can to get the body what it needs to maintain until you can get to a doc.

 

[seedlings]

I have a couple buddies that really like both minimalist and barefoot shoes. They are younger guys, in pretty good shape. They are pretty into the concept and like to advocate for their use.

I did a bit of research on them awhile back and kind of came away with the impression that the have some downsides. After looking at some of the research again, I was unable to find anything that specifically pointed to any Achilles benefits. Most of what I ran across pointed to there being little benefit to the general population and more benefit to the better athletes. Here are a couple of the articles I looked at for anyone to read up on these.

https://endurelite.com/blogs/free-nutrition-supplement-and-training-articles-for-runners-and-cyclists/the-truth-about-barefoot-running-and-minimalist-shoes

https://actpodiatry.com.au/barefoot-walking-and-minimalist-footwear/#:~:text=The%20benefits%20in%20minimalist%20shoes,forces%20through%20the%20knee%20joint.

There was some podiatrist that did a study on all his patients with plantar fasciitis. 100% of the tissue specimens were not inflamed, they were dead. Perhaps no correlation at all to achilles. High shoe arches limit blood flow to the heel. That's all I know. I'm 47y. Very flat footed. On my feet much of the day doing hands on/technical labor. They helped me. Pain sucks. Minimalist shoes are viewed by podiatrists how chiropractors/herbal supplements are to doctors.

 

[txmxer]

I saw the PA. She looked at it and said let's get an MRI. So, next week I'm expecting to get an MRI scheduled.

And to Wolfhaley's point, yeah, I'm dealing with a variety of issues. I've not been really good about taking care of my body over the years. It's one reason why I haven't pushed my kids to get involved in competitive sports--particularly contact sports or sports that include potential high impact.

In the COVID thread I had mentioned an issue I've been dealing with that I believe is related to the flu vax. It's called Guillain-Barré Syndrome (or GBS).

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/guillain-barre-syndrome.html

It's rare, but can be associated with the flu vax. I got the flu shot prior to my business trip to Puerto Rico in October. Truth is I don't recall for sure whether the numbness started before the vax or not. But it was around the same time. She's going to give me a referral to a nerve specialist where they do a nerve conduction test.

As far as plantar fasciitis goes, I've dealt with that in the past as well. The first time it happened I was in college and wore and old pair of cleats playing flag football. Haven't had a lot of issue with it since then. I do generally choose my footwear to provide arch support due to that experience.

I know that Joe Rogaine is a minimalist shoe guy. I've looked in to it some. I'm not sold on it. OTOH, for this tendon issue, I have wondered if the hiking boots I wear to play DG are actually a cause for this issue. They are high top style, and have a pretty stiff support. So, they could be pinching the tendon.

Thanks for the feedback--sometimes I need someone to point out I'm being dumb not getting something looked at. I should know better. I tore ligaments in my shoulder in 2003 in a motorcycle crash and waited months before going to a doctor and ultimately getting it surgically repaired. I've even given that advice--to go get stuff looked at sooner rather than later. Thanks again all.