Ankle running injury

February 4, 2020

Hi, I have been having problems with my left ankle since approx last Spring.

I had an ultrasound on it and the clinical report came back on 5th Jan as Significant Retrocalcaneal Bursitis, a sprain and also some other words!

Before this injury I was running approx 25km a week. I don’t recall any fall or anything which caused this. I have not been running since 6th Jan and its starting to feel a little better.

I had some NHS physio which i did from Aug-December but it didn’t improve much. I would be grateful for some advice and any next steps I can take.

Thanks, Adrian.

Adrian
February 4, 2020

Hi Adrian – I guess it’s what the Physio didn’t do rather than did, as in all honesty it should have improved in that time scale.

RCB don’t really need any trauma or incident to become painful, it’s much more likely to be a repetition type things, either by super simple things like your runners rub the back of your heel or you have the ability to really, really point your toes out straight (like sitting on your ankles).

These are the most obvs things – and at this stage in the chronology of things, it wouldn’t at all surprise me if you now got an insertional achilles tendinopathy – and that can feel exactly the same…

Were you given a heel raise at all?

You need to make sure you load is controlled, and rest helps but you slowly and gradually will need to increase it. The Couch to 5k app might be a goer

The Guru

Guru Responded
February 4, 2020

Adrian thanked the Guru, but there was some confusion:

Hi Guru thanks for your reply, I wasn’t given heel raises as part of the physio, but I am starting to do them daily.

I will book an appt through the website.

February 4, 2020

Whoa!

“Heel raise” as in a little device/wedge that sits in your shoes that give you a passive heel rise – takes the pressure of the RBC rather than doing a “heel raise”.

Pedantic or what!

If you’re doing heel raises (!) then make sure you do it on the flat and not on the edge of a step and work more in mid range and end range, and will hopefully clear this up when you’re in.

The Guru

guru-profile Guru Responded

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