Achilles Tendonitis Surgery two years ago, still healing.

by Bill W.
(Oregon)

Looks like I'm the first story on here. Cool!

4 years ago I started having pain in my right Achilles Tendon, halfway between the calf and the heel.

I'm a runner, so I didn't want to slow down or stop. I probably should have.

3 years ago the tendon pain got so bad I couldn't run more than half a mile, even when I took a long time to warm up.

I made myself rest for 6 months. I didn't run at all. I elevated my foot as much as I could, did upper body and upper leg strengthening at the gym, stretched my calves.
Ibuprofen and ice packs not as much as I should have.

At the end of the 6 months, I went for two short runs. The day after the end of the second run, my Achilles hurt just as bad as before!

No running was driving me crazy. I rested and tried to work back into running, thinking that it had to be healed and that I just needed to work back into it slowly. 6 months of that and it became clear it wasn't going to heal.

My doctor advised me to have surgery, so I did.

I don't know if I should have. It was another 6 months just to heal from the surgery. Now my Achilles is really tight.

It's so stiff when I wake up in the morning. It's stiff most of the day.

I can walk on it fine, but when I start to jog, it just feels so stiff that I know I should stop. I've been stretching taking it easy for the last 2 years after the surgery.

I will say though, it does hurt less than it did. And I've started hiking instead of running. It's good to do that with my kids. Happened for a reason I guess.