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Safeguard the Achilles

Achilles tendon
One of the most painful tendon injuries is Achilles. But there are also ways to avoid these injuries. Here are some of them:

  • You’ll feel a burning and piercing in the tendon above your heel and it can even make a crackling sound when you move it. Any higher up your calf and it’s more likely that you’ve strained or pulled a muscle. Rupturing your Achilles tendon is a exceptionally painful experience and you’ll know when you’ve done it.
  • Your Achilles tendon connects your calf muscles to your heel bone and is made of thousands of individual fibers of collagen. Restricted blood flow to this area slows repair and pain will worsen if you keep training.
  • Four important factors in healing the Achilles are: rest, ice, compression and elevation. If your tendon is harmed take a break from all weight bearing sport (except swimming) for at least 2 weeks. You can recover from mild injury in a couple of weeks but a severe one can take 5 months.
  • In order to prevent Achilles injury in the first place Increase your running, cycling or rowing distance by no more than 5% each week and if your feet turn inwards when you run, buy inner soles or orthotics to correct this. Also try running on grass and stretching your calves after workouts to keep them flexible, then add the strength moves to your routine.
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