Patrick John McCrann | Athlete. Author. Coach.

One of the most debilitating injuries a runner can get is tweaking their achilles tendon and/or calf muscle. Sure there’s the whole host of stress fractures and other options, but at the end of the day a break is much better than a pull or tear — the recovery is awful, but you know you will recover. How can you make sure that this achilles/calf set back is only temporary? Read on…

Background
To be brief and to the point, I mention achilles / calf muscles in the same breath since they are connected. Anatomically speaking, the tendons from the gastroc and soleus muscles in your calf come together to form one single tendon…your achilles.  During running your achilles acts essentially as a spring, reducing the overall metabolic cost of running by not requiring the muscles to do as much work. During the push off phase, the achilles can bear up to seven times of the runner’s body weight (that’s legit!!!).

The Injury
In the case of your achilles / calf, an injury will require not only some rest and a thorough examination by your doctor, it will require some rehabbing to get the muscles and tendon back up to full strength. In some cases of early onset of tendonitis, it’s possible to pre-empt a full blown injury by taking careful steps to minimize the cause of the problem. In this case, we are going to assume you have sustained either an injury or sufficient tendonitis such that your running is severely limited or non-existent.

The Protocol
Developed and explained to me by Dr. Thomas Michaud of Michaud Chiropractic in Newton, MA, the protocol is called “heavy-load eccentric exercises.” Note that these repeats are great to do all the time, not just when you are sidelined!

Think of it as reverse calf-raises…this eccentric motion essentially allows you to strength and lengthen your achilles tendon.

Start by standing on the edge of a stair with your heels hanging off the stair. Using both legs, you raise your heels as high as possible, and then remove the uninjured leg from the stair. The injured leg is then gradually lowered through a full range of motion. The uninjured leg is then placed back on the stairway, and both legs are again used to raise the heels as high as possible.

Three sets of 15 repetitions are performed twice a day with the knees both straight and bent.

Good luck and get well soon!

Coach P

More Information
For a more complete article by “The Man” himself, including links to studies, please click here: http://bit.ly/HWCrv