[pct-l] Achilles Tendon

[Cosmic Cat]

I had Achilles issues last summer. They began around Scissors Crossing (mi
50) and worsened until Idyllwild (mi 200). There, I rested them for a week
because I was freaked. After a long conversation with my body, we agreed to
start walking again at a dramatically slower pace. My goal was to not cause
any pain in the lower leg during any hiking.

The first day was agonizingly slow with a significant chunk of twinges.
Upon any hint of a twinge, I would slow the pace immediately.

The second day was less extreme, but with the same discipline of pain
avoidance.

Repeat.... with ever increasing strength and speed, with lessening of
pain... until Canada.

My left achilles still feels lesser than my right. But I stayed on the
trail. And I will do more.

BTW: Shout out to Angel/Hiker Spider who DROVE ME from Idyllwild to just
south of Big Bear. It took up his entire day. YOU HELPED RESCUE MY HIKE!

Goodness

On Wed, Jan 4, 2012 at 9:34 PM, Tom Holz <tom.holz at gmail.com> wrote:

> Mark,
>
> I just saw your post about your Achilles tendon problem, and had a
> couple of comments for you based on my own experience with chronic foot
> pain and shin splints:
>
> 1) If you are going to hike, try to minimize the impact stress during
> the day.  In other words, no big heel strikes after a wide stride, and
> don't push your speed when there is pain.  I adopted a barefoot-style
> gait based on Chi-Running for my thruhike in 2010 that was radically
> different from my comfortable power-hiking "natural" gait.  The new
> hiking gait completely averted shin splints, which had chronically
> plagued me before that.  Honestly, I had been expecting to be off the
> trail by Warner Springs or so with shin splints.
>
> 2) If you haven't had someone do a whole-body assessment of your
> movement, I strongly recommend finding someone qualified to perform a
> Selective Functional Movement Assessment (you can search on
> functionalmovement.com).  Many PT and specialists like podiatrists have
> a laser-focused expertise and methodology that is useful immediately
> post-surgery or post-accident, but very poor at diagnosing and treating
> chronic problems like the overuse injuries many thruhikers experience,
> which often have their root in non-painful movement dysfunction.
>
> 3) It's possible that there is remote dysfunction that may be causing or
> agravating your Achilles.  My foot pain and shin splints, for example,
> were caused by how my gait had adapted to fundamental instability in one
> of my hips, and those problems were completely avoided just by
> thoughtfully changing the way I hiked.  (One of my feet even shrank one
> size to 15 during my hike as my arches got stronger, I was able to throw
> out my superfeet, and no longer needed daily ibuprofen).
>
> I hope you're able to find something that works!
>
> Regards,
> Bigfoot
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