Hello all. Last week, with the wife in Florida on business and the kid in school, I decided to take the week off to ride my bike...... REALLY ride my bike. I'm usually good for 12hrs/200+miles a week but last week I covered 400 miles over 23+hours in the saddle. That ramp up seemed to have given me some pain in the Achilles heel area. There's no swelling or redness to speak of and I can walk without pain. I only feel it when I put pressure on the pedals or climb stairs quickly. The pain is not severe but it does make me want to not ride for fear of really doing something to it.

My question is, how long of a layoff should I expect from this. Also, what kind of stretches work best for the Achilles. I've heard that moving the cleats back a bit helps relieve some of the strain.

Thank you all

Meow!

Hello all. Last week, with the wife in Florida on business and the kid in school, I decided to take the week off to ride my bike...... REALLY ride my bike. I'm usually good for 12hrs/200+miles a week but last week I covered 400 miles over 23+hours in the saddle. That ramp up seemed to have given me some pain in the Achilles heel area. There's no swelling or redness to speak of and I can walk without pain. I only feel it when I put pressure on the pedals or climb stairs quickly. The pain is not severe but it does make me want to not ride for fear of really doing something to it.

My question is, how long of a layoff should I expect from this. Also, what kind of stretches work best for the Achilles. I've heard that moving the cleats back a bit helps relieve some of the strain.

Thank you all

Meow!

Here's a good link: http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/0031a-achilles-tendonitis.htm

Hello all. Last week, with the wife in Florida on business and the kid in school, I decided to take the week off to ride my bike...... REALLY ride my bike. I'm usually good for 12hrs/200+miles a week but last week I covered 400 miles over 23+hours in the saddle. That ramp up seemed to have given me some pain in the Achilles heel area. There's no swelling or redness to speak of and I can walk without pain. I only feel it when I put pressure on the pedals or climb stairs quickly. The pain is not severe but it does make me want to not ride for fear of really doing something to it.

My question is, how long of a layoff should I expect from this. Also, what kind of stretches work best for the Achilles. I've heard that moving the cleats back a bit helps relieve some of the strain.

I went through a nasty bout of Achilles tendinitis about 8 or 9 years ago. Be careful with it, because this injury can become chronic very quickly.

First off, I'll assume you changed nothing in your equipment before your monster week (my injury was a result of a monster week plus new shoes/pedals). Do you have "crepitus" in the tendon - hold your fingers on the Achilles and flex your foot, does it feel crunchy? If so, then you have Achilles tendinitis. The tendon is swollen and as a result it is not sliding well in its sheath.

Obviously, tight calf muscles contribute to the problem, the muscles tighten up and put extra tension on the Achilles. If you ride with your cleats very far forward on your shoes this really puts extra stress on the calf muscles because the effective lever length of your foot is longer. My recommendation, if your tendon is sore and/or has crepitus, is to avoid stretching. In my injury I had a PT who treated me aggressively with lots of stretching and this took my problem from bad to worse very quickly. Instead of stretching, try doing some self-massage to loosen up your calf muscles. Also, wearing some 1/4"-3/8" heel lifts in your everyday shoes will reduce the stretch on the tendon during walking. I can't emphasize enough - stretching the already inflamed tendon will not help it. In terms of riding, you could move your cleats back on the shoe but if you do so, also lower your saddle a few mm as well because your effective leg extension will be reduced. Try to reduce the amount of ankle motion in your pedal stroke (moving the cleats back will help this) and do NOT drop your heel past level at the bottom of your pedal stroke.

Conversely, another way to have trouble is if you ride a very high saddle and pedal toe-down excessively, with the shoe pressing into the back of the tendon. Here, the tendon can become sore and swollen from the pressure. This is a little different than a tendon injury from pure muscular overuse and usually lowering the saddle will provide immediate relief.

FWIW, I am not a doctor, but when I was injured I did a lot of research on Achilles injuries in cycling.

Luckily, I don't have that grinding or grating and there's no swelling or redness. I think I'll move my cleats ever so slightly. Hopefully, with a bit of rest this should clear up. If not, it's off to the doc.


Thanks

Here's a good link: http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/0031a-achilles-tendonitis.htm

FROM MY EXPERIENCE...

The eccentric exercises WILL, strengthen your achilies tendons... I built a tool to do this...

2 10X2's (actually 1 1/2) cut to 18 inches and pegged together (but not glued)... and a 4X4 mounted in the middle (9 inch mark)... with the good foot step on the 4X4... put the bad foot on the ten by 2.... you bad foot should be pointing down and only on the ball of the foot... release pressure from good foot (slowly) and let bad foot take up pressure and sink below the boards... this puts controlled eccentric weight on the bad foot and lets its stretch....

Also , latteral stretching helps too...
Stand with both feet together.... bend knees as if skiing... now point your knees (both) to the right, back to the center, and then to the left....

AND IN ALL CASES ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR!

There are many articles from google that will give you all the information you need...