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Loohan

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Registered: 2014-10-31

Posts: 32,787

Heel pain: achilles tendonitis

I have been managing this in one heel for almost a year now, plus a reader wrote me he has it.
The symptoms are that heel(s) will feel a sharp pain even if lightly bumped, and when it gets worse, the pain will cause limping in the morning when you get out of bed. I suppose it gets even worse than that but that's as far as my symptoms went.
I bought a little book and will try to impart some points from memory as the bk is not here with me.

The symptoms could be caused by a torn tendon or actual inflammation of the tendon SHEATH, but in most cases it is just the inner CORE of the tendon where it ties into the heel that is bothered. The fibers of the core are disarranged by overuse, and actually there is NO INFLAMMATION so the correct term is not tendonitis but tendonosis.
The physical therapy recommended in the book is to raise yourself on your good heel, then lower yourself SLOWLY on your injured one. If you have one good heel. Otherwise i suppose you have to raise using something you can lift yourself with.
Use a STOOL or step so your heels can hang down over for maximum stretch as you lower.
This reverse weightlifting, first without added weights but later done with weights in a backpack or whatever, rearranges the fibers into a more correct pattern.

Doing this did produce quick improvement so that i rarely limped and now never do, but has not fixed it 100%. I backed off from doing it regularly after several months.
The tendon actually ties into both large muscles in the calf, and thus tremendous stress is put on it. I had been sometimes doing heel lifts with a fair bit of added weight, plus occasionally a few front snap kicks onto a 100# hard bag! When the symptoms started i had no idea what was causing them, and continued these practices for some time!

Now i occasionally still do weighted and unweighted heel lifts, but lifting mostly with my good foot and lowering mostly on the injured one, carefully. I quit doing those particular kicks.
When i go in a long hike, that causes minor flare-up still, but not too bad.

What else worked for me:
I think the main thing is Gou Pi Koa medicated plasters bought online. These can be left on 3 days (will tend to come off heel unless held in place with sock, and even then may roll off bottom section). I cut each sheet into quarters. After a 2-3 days i would experience strong ITCHING and BLISTERS  which i at first thought might be a reaction to the strong herb extracts or chemicals in the glue. However with continued use the blisters occurred less and less, and soon stopped entirely. And the itching diminshed too although i sometimes get a bit of the latter still. This is the opposite of what one would expect if these were adverse reactions.
Note that the blisters were not the real superficial kind that rupture. They subsided quickly and the skin returned to normal without breaking.
I have to believe that the plasters cause some impurities in the core of the tendon to come to the surface, providing healing and relief.
I still use a 1/4 plaster once a week or so. My heel is no longer very sensitive if i bump it.

Other things which may help:
I got a lot of acupuncture treatments last year for a variety of minor issues including the heel. A TENS unit was often used on the heel needles.
MOXA: i did not get around to moxa-ing the heel much, mainly because the plasters seemed much more effective and were in the way of the moxa. But this is something that will probably help if you don't do the plasters.

Loohan

Administrator

Registered: 2014-10-31

Posts: 32,787

Re: Heel pain: achilles tendonitis

I have not been getting the fullest results. It belatedly occurred to me to look up physical therapists on YT.
A couple vids with info and techniques i will be trying:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72p58Iy6u7M&t=708s
This guy a an Egyptoid Mason heavily into BlackWhiteRed but seems to have in-depth quality info, and communicates well. He gives what might be a superior calf stretch that is supposed to get to the root cause.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqAlt1k_-gs
These popular guys are non-COTHS and give massage, stretching,and light exercise that is supposedly effective.

Also i have a strong liniment i made which i use. I don't wear sox much except when it's cold, now that i'm retired, so the medicated plasters are not convenient this time of year. For me the main pain is low down in back, almost by the ground.
Frankly i am not sure moxhibustion does much for this. Normally i find moxa effective for tendon pains, but i can't say i've observed much doing it on my heel area.

[Edit: woops, the 2nd vid is by Etoids too. The next vid of theirs i watched, they had the vibe, and one guy was wearing a B&W shirt and the other guy red.]