I just got back from visiting my orthopedic doctor and he diagnosed my ankle pain as bilateral Achilles Tendonopathy, now I have to go to physical therapy for ASTYM for a few weeks.
Can anyone shed any light on this issue as I have not heard of this before, usually it is tendentious we suffer from if anything so this is quite new to me. What is ASTYM treatment, along with ROM and PRN
Thanks for any advice on this, the doctor said it probably would be okay to still ride my bike when the pain isn’t so bad, which is something right now. Cheers LA Rob
I didn’t ask about swimming, he told me to do what I can without too much pain as when I asked if it would be okay to ride the bike he said sure if it doesn’t make the pain worse, I guess I will try swimming and just kick off as lightly as I can. I just got my first physical therapy session for Friday evening so looking forward to that, as these dam ankles have been hurting for months now and all the stuff I was doing at home didn’t help one bit. Rob
Same here ankles hurting like hell in the morning and when ever sitting for 10-15 minutes. Said I can swim as long as I don’t push of the wall. Starting PT with specific running therapist (so he said) and doing stretches. So far stretches seem to aggravate a bit more. Also him started hurting to I guess because I was favoring one side over the other. Oh yeah they said a lot of problem was from tight calfs.
I got over this (in part) by working on tendon strength via eccentric heel drops. At first it was too hard/painful to do the version with single leg drops on the stairs, so I just started by doing them flat on the floor, initially two-legged and then one-legged. To my surprise, as I worked on it I really made progress with my tendons, and I’m now pain free. The other things that I did that might have helped are (i) run in Hokas with additional heel inserts, (ii) build run mileage very gradually. Good luck with your recovery.
I got over a similar situation by doing two things. First, Google “Reversing Achilles Tendonitis” by Joshua Tucker, BA, CMT. I followed his protocol. I also changed the way I run from a toe strike to mid-foot strike using some of the principals of Chi running. I am not a full blown Chi runner but I found that using the principals of this method during my recovery was a major contributing factor to returning to normal mileage. Back to Tucker, now when ever I get a flare up I roll my achilles on a frozen large sized water bottle for a few days and it seems to put it to rest. Just my $0.02…good luck!
Suffering from insertional Achilles tendonitis and Achilles tendonosis a little higher up for the better part of the last two years, Eccentric heel drops on the stairs seemed to aggravate more than it helped. Finally after seeking out the best Doc in the area and his putting me onto a fantastic Physical Therapist, in 5 weeks I’m pretty much on the mend. First off and most importantly was the eccentric heel drops, no doing them on the steps, flat floor only. How I did them was was the most important change. I usually do them facing a counter top. Use my arms on the counter to help raise up onto the toe weight free. Put the weight on the foot and hold it a second and then slowly as you can lower your heel to the floor and ground it firmly, this should take about 5 seconds. You should feel a little ( at first) or no pain. Repeat till your upper calf behind the knee starts to get tired and stop. recover and two more sets. do this several times a day. Hand massage the tendon from the heel up to the calf to get the sheath supple again. Work on loosening up your calf muscles and hammies.
I found dry needling to really help with the loosening up of the muscles. A good PT will spend most of your sessions manipulating your body to find knotty ropey muscles and work on relaxing them. A good PT will also be certified in many things like A.R.T. and such. All the exercises you can do at home.
First off and most importantly was the eccentric heel drops, no doing them on the steps, flat floor only. How I did them was was the most important change. I usually do them facing a counter top. Use my arms on the counter to help raise up onto the toe weight free. Put the weight on the foot and hold it a second and then slowly as you can lower your heel to the floor and ground it firmly, this should take about 5 seconds. You should feel a little ( at first) or no pain. Repeat till your upper calf behind the knee starts to get tired and stop. recover and two more sets. do this several times a day.
Thanks. This is a far better description than I was able to provide. I found it really useful to do these at various times during the day, e.g., when waiting in line at the lunch counter.