Achilles Tendonitis

The Achilles tendon is the thickest, strongest, and largest tendon in the entire human body. It serves as the primary bridge connecting your powerful calf muscles (the gastrocnemius and soleus) directly to your heel bone (the calcaneus). This structure is affected every time you are walking, running, jumping, or simply standing up on your tiptoes. Its main job is to act like a heavy-duty mechanical spring; absorbing energy when your foot hits the ground and recycling that force to propel you forward or cushion your landing. While the Achilles is engineered to handle massive loads, it is not invincible, especially when exposed to high repetition without adequate recovery.

Achilles tendonitis, or now more commonly and accurately referred to as “Achilles tendinopathy”, is a repetitive strain injury that involves the irritation and wear of the tendon at the back of the ankle. Even though the name suggests it is an inflammatory condition (the "-itis" suffix traditionally signals inflammation), chronic Achilles pain is generally not considered an inflammatory problem. While traditional treatments for inflammation such as rest, ice, and anti-inflammatory medicationsnmay temporarily ease the discomfort, they do not truly resolve the underlying issue.

Achilles tendonitis is actually a load capacity and strength issue. When you perform repetitive, high-impact tasks (like running, jumping, or sudden pivoting) and don't allow for enough recovery time, the tendon fibers get worn down, microtears develop, and become irritable. Unless you plan to permanently decrease your daily physical activities, the most effective way to address it is to safely increase the strength, elasticity, and load-bearing capacity of the calf muscles and the tendon itself. Achilles issues generally respond exceptionally well to targeted treatment strategies that involve load management, progressive strengthening, shockwave therapy, and manual therapy.

Common causes may include a combination of the following:

• A sudden increase in volume of work and/or training
• High volume of walking, running, or jumping
• Sports such as tennis, pickleball, running, padel
• Previous foot, ankle and knee injuries
• Limited ankle mobility or "tightness" in the calf muscles
• Over-pronated or Supinated feet
• Inadequate recovery time between work or training sessions

In our clinic in Burlington, we have a special focus on treating injuries in our local pickleball community.  So we have a lot of experience treating Achilles tendonitis.  To get the best, long-lasting results it takes a well-rounded approach, and more than just a few weeks of traditional treatment such as rest and ice.

At the Recovery Room Chiropractic and Wellness, education always takes the forefront.  We make sure that you understand exactly what and why you are experiencing your symptoms so that you can make good decisions in your recovery.  We can help you make adjsutments to your training schedule or your recovery plan so you are setting yourself up for success.

Hands-on treatment modalities such as manual therapy, soft tissue release and joint mobilizations can play a big part in pain reduction and improving the range of motion of your foot, ankle, and knee and advanced technology such as shockwave therapy is used to help speed up recovery time and enhance tendon recovery. 

Underlying everything you are taken through a progressive loading and strengthening program to help improve the load tolerance capacity of your muscles, tendons and joints, and this is ultimately what will cure your tennis elbow over time.