I was jovially chatting with the jump coach at Cuesta Junior College a couple months back, telling how it has been 18 years since I last strapped on my spikes. He smiled and just said, watch out for you Achilles. I had already been running and bounding for a month or so without any problem, but Murphy’s law struck and not a week later did my Achilles start to ache (I still blame that coach…thanks a lot!).
Quickly, I hit the web and found that ruptured Achilles is an extremely common injury for guys over 40 doing ballistic sports. So, being the good boy that I am, I started icing after workouts and heat during the day, but that wasn’t making much progress. I read about wearing a splint to bed, but I wasn’t ready to do that. Instead, I just made sure that upon waking I slowly made circles with my ankles trying to loosen up my calf prior to putting my whole body weight down. This did seem to help a bit.
Then, a week ago, I was at an orthopedic surgeon (my wife is getting rotator cuff surgery) and asked him if he treated Achilles issues. Without hesitation he said “get a Strassburg Sock”. Okay, that was all the nudging I needed. Continue reading
Sprint 42 