This is Baffling Me

[RFM]

About two years ago I developed a nice little case of tendonitus on my left achillies (sp?) heel. The tendon really got tight after I would have a rest after being on it for some time, and when I did move after sitting, boy did it hurt as if it were getting ready to split in two.

Here's how bad the pain was...I was pulling in to Walmart and a torrential downpour of rain came down, everyone is running into the store - except me, I couldn't move fast, not at all, I was taking baby steps while trying to work out the pain! I got wet.

Well this sort of thing was just a typical (not to mention there was a big knot on that tendon too) after work each day, as soon as I got out of the car, the tendon was very tight and walking very painful.

That is until Christmas Day. I got a nice case of stomache flu over the Christmas weekend, but once I was over it, I also noticed that my tendonitus was gone and the knot is getting smaller. I have been pretty much pain free for the last week.

I have done nothing different. No special stretches or exercises. No changes in shoes or even work load or other activity. Two years of pain just stopped. Any thoughts?

Bob

[RD'S Alias - 1A]

You tore a muscle, and have been aggravating it over and over these last two years making it impossible to heal...getting sick forced you to rest it a bit, so it healed a bit, hence less pain.

I'd suggest you continue that, and also see your doctor to find out exactly what the problem is.

[Becca]

Agree with RD. Micro tears at least, perhapse a bigger tear. Should have gone to the doc well before the 2 year mark. But the best thing would be to keep resting it, go to the doc to get a referal to a physical theripist. You are going to need some profecional assisatance fixing the imbalances the a long lingering injury usually leaves behind. :)

[RFM]

I did have this checked out a couple of months after it started and tendonitus was the diagnosis. I have had tears in other muscles and know how the healing works - this problem just went away overnight and the swelling has decreased by 75%.

I've healed quickly before, but this is one of those here one minute, gone the next!

Bob

[AJM]

The rest allowed the muscles to finally relax.

[RFM]

Normally I would agree with all of you. When I was sick, however, it was with a stomach flu - I was up and in the bathroom nearly every hour each night for two nights - I never got the kind of rest one would need. I don't know, not a big deal either, I am just happy to be able to move around without any pain!

Many times when I thought about taking up practicing kung fu again, that pain was enough to have me reconsider. But now, I am going to approach the idea with a little more care so that I don't re-injure or aggravate the tendon.

Thanks for sharing.

Bob

[Becca]

Could just be it was ready if you know what I meen. I've heard of people getting micro tears in thier calves from running. They would just keep running on it and eventually it would go away. I've never heard of it going away suddenly, but then, I've never asked. Still might be a good idea to get some help from a trainer to get your muscle groups back in balence. Any type of pain will cause you to favor one side or another, alter how you move in some way or another.

[Royal Dragon]

I wonder what an MRI would show?

[No_Know]

Thought: the knot on your tendon was a live growth nesting near and borrowing parts of your tendon that tightened it. Your influenza was viral and in its travel blod stuff and all like thatit came across this growth or stagnating blocking material. Fed, got sick or stayed too long away from your stomach to beat your White blood cells.

The blockage eaten or weakened(poisined-ish) got washed away by your bloodflow for waste disposal.

No longer dividing/winding/pulling that tendon, a lot less stress there. Return to normalcy.

Perhaps some-such some might think.

Over-use: Knead the calf--squeeze it or press at the center and make circles along the center of the calf (can be done down to the heel). Move the bottom of the back of the heel--press it move itback and forth, up down, but get circles in there too if you don't mind.

My think for maintenance is that the grip that can slide, side rubbing or against-the-grain washes/cleans-off/exercises muscles while perhaps relaxedly allowing them to approach neutral. Too limp and this brings them up to more Useable.

The circle stuff from the Knee part of the calfand at the heel merely seem correctish--addressing them wirthout forcing their use. Perhaps breaking the muscle grip near-by which might be influencing...I No_Know I come-up with comprehensions, not really any explainations...as I No_Know...merely seems correctish.

Massage the heelbackand upper-calf-back to address the tense achillles' tendon .

I No_Know

[Becca]

Good theory, No_Know. A blockage that was brocken up would definantly explain why the pain vanished almost over night.

[cjurakpt]

Thought: the knot on your tendon was a live growth nesting near and borrowing parts of your tendon that tightened it. Your influenza was viral and in its travel blod stuff and all like thatit came across this growth or stagnating blocking material. Fed, got sick or stayed too long away from your stomach to beat your White blood cells.
The blockage eaten or weakened(poisined-ish) got washed away by your bloodflow for waste disposal.
No longer dividing/winding/pulling that tendon, a lot less stress there. Return to normalcy.
Perhaps some-such some might think.
and now in the Queen's English: sometimes when you have chronic inflammation locally or even systemically, it's because, for whatever reason, the process that began acutely never completed itself, and so you have this on-going issue that just never resolves; locally, if it's muscular, you can have strain patterns that persist for extended periods of time, because the muscle is still behaving neurologicaly as if it had just been injured (lowered threshold to trigger a protective contraction / persistent low-grade contraction), with all the associated pro-inlfammatory agents constantly being stimulated in that area; as such, sometimes the "cure" is to push the system into an acute inflammatory / immune response, to help complete the unresolved process - you can do this locally via good manual therapy (massage being one approach, but hardly the most efficient), or globally - such as by getting sick with something more important for the system to deal with, so it kinda "forgets" the other thing it's been obsessed with for a while; the question is, once the large scale event is over, what is the likelihood that the organism will go back to its favorite chew-toy? that depends on how ingrained the strain pattern became in the connective tissue, predisposing one to re-injury; so just be aware, and don't go overboard - you are pain free, that's good, but just be cautious about what you do; my suggestion is always to find a well-trained manually based licensed therapist (PT, chiro, L.Ac. who does tuina, whatever), and have them "on retainer" if you are a regularly training martial artist; in your case, I'd look into that because, in the absence of direct trauma, tendonitis in the heel cord is often the end result of a musculoskeletal imbalance somewhere up or down the kinetic chain: it can be from the foot/ankle, but also due to issues in the hip / pelvis or even the throacic spine; of course, sometimes you are able to compensate for these things just fine, but it depends on the nature / level of one's activity, general state of health, general amount of intrinsic body awareness, etc.; working with someone knowledgeable helps develop your ability to "self-check" and self-manage yourself before things get symptomatic, heading them off at the pass, so to speak

good luck

[RFM]

All this good thought!

I had to give it more thought, something I must've overlooked in my description of the situation, and I remembered that the pain really began after I swapped my good orthotics for cheap ones.

I am flat-footed and dollars-to-donuts, my pain really began a short time after switching out orthotics. Now a couple of months ago, I went back to the good orthotics, but didn't experience any change in my discomfort.

Several shared that it may have been an injruy that simply needed rest - perhaps, using the good orthotics gave my tendon (leg in general) the break it needed to really heal. Why such a dramatic difference in one night? Just the way things work I guess - that stomache flu triggered somthing.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Bob