Similar to this person, and to other posts on this forum, it seems like I have insertional achilles tendonitis. Last year I went on a very rugged, 100 mile off trail route over the course of 7 days, with lots of elevation gain. Towards the end of the trip and afterwards, I had some kind of inflammation or damage where my achilles meets my heel (seemingly exacerbated by continuous pressure on that tendon from the back of my shoe, while going over very steep terrain). It is not pain exactly, but both tendons are squeeky, sensitive, and weak feeling, 11 months later.
Based on your response here and to a different post about achilles tendonitis, I’m going to follow these recommendations about double to single calf raises, moving up to isometric calf raises, weighted calf raises, and finally eccentric heel drops, progressing carefully over a few months. I also like the idea of cutting out the heel of my shoes so it doesn’t apply more pressure there. I’m curious if you have any thoughts on movements or amount of activity I should avoid? I see some have commented before that continuing to run is a good idea so long as it doesn’t hurt. It’s unclear to me whether I should be generally trying to rest the tendons, while doing light running and biking to keep my aerobic fitness up, or if I should just focus on strengthening them (ie, not resting them) while continuing to do my other regular strength exercises (mostly bodyweight stuff, squats, lunges, etc). I also have a fair bit of field work coming up, involving daily hiking with weight, and I’m wondering how I should factor that in to rehabbing my achilles.
Thanks for any insight!!!
-Erika