Achilles Tendinosis And Plantar Fasciosis

[Jonny Betts]

Hi everyone. I'm reposting this here because I originally posted it in the wrong section and can't figure out how to delete the other thread. Sorry, I'm new to the forum.

So here's my situation. I'm a professional Muay Thai fighter, and after a fight back in April last year I had to take some time off from sparring etc to let some cuts heal. I decided to use the off time to focus on my strength training and started the Starting Strength program (before this I was pressing, squatting and deadlifting, but only once a week). I also added in calf raises at the end of my sessions as accessory work (because I'm an idiot and was bored basically). After a couple of weeks of this my left achilles got really sore so I stopped training and rested for a couple of weeks, that didn't really help at all. I went and saw a physiotherapist who confirmed that I have achilles tendinosis and told me to do eccentric calf raises. I was a bit dubious about this as I never had problems with achilles before until I started doing calf raises in the first place, but followed what he told me to do. After a few weeks of that my achilles was no better and both my heels were hurting as well (self diagnosed as plantar fasciosis). Since then I've been to another physio who evaluated me and said I don't have any mobility issues (I'm actually much more flexible than an average person).
So now I still have the same pain in my left achilles and both heels, and Im pretty depressed to be honest as I haven't been able to fight (which is my main source of income) since April last year and I'm not showing much signs of improvement. I've been getting brutal massage on my lower legs and feet regularly but I don't think it's made any difference. I started back squatting, deadlifting and pressing about a month ago, hoping that just getting strong again and working the body with the big lifts will make my injuries heal.
Does anyone have any tips on dealing with these injuries? All the research points to eccentric calf raises but they are obviously not the answer for me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Taylor Grayson]

"Most heel pain and most pain around the Achilles tendon come from trigger points in the soleus, tibialis posterior, or quadratus plantae muscles." according to my "Trigger Point Therapy Workbook". I would have thought that brutal massages would address possible trigger points, but I don't know this for a fact. You should be able to determine for yourself if you have any trigger points in these muscles.

[Jonny Betts]

"Most heel pain and most pain around the Achilles tendon come from trigger points in the soleus, tibialis posterior, or quadratus plantae muscles." according to my "Trigger Point Therapy Workbook". I would have thought that brutal massages would address possible trigger points, but I don't know this for a fact. You should be able to determine for yourself if you have any trigger points in these muscles.

I've been looking for trigger points for months but can't find any, and yeah like you said the massages should have taken care of those if I had any. Tendinopathy seems pretty mysterious unfortunately

[wwg]

I've had Achilles Tendinosis and Plantar Fasciosis for years when I was younger, due to overuse when running stupidly and an underlying systemic inflammation. For me the following rehab protocol proved to be successful (after having done a lot of physical therapy that helped nothing):

Getting rid of the systemic inflammation, what meant to change dietary habits. No grains, very little sugar, no plant seed oils, no legumes.

For the achilles I made up an exercise for the tibialis muscles, let's call it shin raises as opposed to calf raises. I used a standing calf raise machine, but instead of standing on the toes with the heel floating I stand on the heel with the forefoot floating using the short lever between heel bone and ankle joint for the lift. I used fivefinger shoes that give the grip to not slip off the apparatus with the heel and the freedom of movement you need in the foot.

And for the plantar fasciosis I did barefoot walks on natural ground. I live near a park, I just started to go over there with my vibram fivefinges, once in the park take them off and put them on the belt to get the hands free and take a walk through the lawns, flower-beds and so on. In the beginning short but increasingly longer walks. After 2 years I could walk 15 km barefoot on any ground without pain.

That got me completely pain free. I'm still walking barefoot a lot during summer months, the achilles exercise I dismissed after some time.

[poser]

I had PF for about 10 years and like the poster above, I finally put it in the grave by strengthening up my foot going barefoot and minimalists shoes for awhile. It hasn't bothered me since.


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[Jonny Betts]

Thanks for the replies guys. I too have been wearing minimalist shoes for many years now, and I do a lot of barefoot walking (I live in Thailand where it is normal to go barefoot indoors). That's interesting about strengthening the tibialis anterior, although I thought they get worked quite well with squats anyway?


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[wwg]

I did the tibialis exercise long before I started to squat, so I can't tell if squats would have helped me.