Jan 11th, 2014
Martin Bridgeman asked The Guru for the following Physiotherapy Advice:
Hi Guru
After a week off running I started to get what I thought was a tight Achilles, so I concentrated on that area during stretching. I ran a 10k race and after the first mile I was getting some pain in the back of my heel, I ran on through the pain but as soon as I stopped I could hardly walk.
I have changed from heel striking to a mid foot strike approx 3 months or about 200 miles ago. 3 days later I now get some pain but it almost feels as though my ankle doesnt work anymore and I cannot walk without a limp. I haven’t also running considerably faster now than I have done in the past with my new running form. Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated. My Achilles does not hurt to touch but the bony bit to the sides of the Achilles base does. Thanks
Jan 11th, 2014
Hi Martin
.
Running style, and changing running style has been a hot topic of
debate for quite some time now – and is often the route cause of
solving and creating issues.
.
Jumping to the end it sounds as if you’re overloading your subtalar
joint in your hind foot or the talocrural joint in your mid
foot…either one is an oiverload issue due to the way how you’re
running. It’s not the where, but the why’s is more important.
.
Some runners postures (both statically and running sytle) dictate that
they need to heel strike to run. There is a school of thought that
thinks that this is forcing your to slam on the brakes on before you
get your body weight over your foot and run forwards. This is great
for runners who don’t have a static or dynamic posture that requires
heel strike.
.
If this is you (who needs heel strike) the you jam and jar either
your mid or hind foot. Your body responds by trying to limit this
jarring and getting the surrounding muscles to stiffen up and protect
the joint.
.
I think this may be you.
.
So you need to keep you ankle joint mobile or change running
stylee…..If you want to keep the mid foot style then you may have to
look long and hard at your pelvis control, hamstring length and
eccentric control, foot postition and what shoes you’ve got on your
feet.
.
Hope this makes sense….maybe worth getting your running style looked at?
