[pct-l] Achilles Tendon

[Tom Holz]

Mark,

I just saw your post about your Achilles tendon problem, and had a 
couple of comments for you based on my own experience with chronic foot 
pain and shin splints:

1) If you are going to hike, try to minimize the impact stress during
the day.  In other words, no big heel strikes after a wide stride, and
don't push your speed when there is pain.  I adopted a barefoot-style 
gait based on Chi-Running for my thruhike in 2010 that was radically 
different from my comfortable power-hiking "natural" gait.  The new 
hiking gait completely averted shin splints, which had chronically 
plagued me before that.  Honestly, I had been expecting to be off the 
trail by Warner Springs or so with shin splints.

2) If you haven't had someone do a whole-body assessment of your
movement, I strongly recommend finding someone qualified to perform a
Selective Functional Movement Assessment (you can search on
functionalmovement.com).  Many PT and specialists like podiatrists have
a laser-focused expertise and methodology that is useful immediately
post-surgery or post-accident, but very poor at diagnosing and treating
chronic problems like the overuse injuries many thruhikers experience,
which often have their root in non-painful movement dysfunction.

3) It's possible that there is remote dysfunction that may be causing or 
agravating your Achilles.  My foot pain and shin splints, for example, 
were caused by how my gait had adapted to fundamental instability in one 
of my hips, and those problems were completely avoided just by 
thoughtfully changing the way I hiked.  (One of my feet even shrank one 
size to 15 during my hike as my arches got stronger, I was able to throw 
out my superfeet, and no longer needed daily ibuprofen).

I hope you're able to find something that works!

Regards,
Bigfoot