so i went to the physio last night - Paul this time, not Kevin. Paul took a good look and decided it wasn't so bad an injury after all (well i knew that, kinda..). He gave the tendon a good massage. [apparently, the Achilles is such a big tendon, it has a well-formed para-tendon around the outside, and it's the stickiness between that and the inside tendon, during periods of inactivity (sleeping in my case) that causes it to be stiff when you stand or get up. interesting stuff, huh.?] he then - to save time apparently - stuck a few acupuncture needles in my calf. [oddly, he asked if i'd had it before - and i had, for my shoulder, about 5years back - and whether i responded well - which i did, it was great. apparently, you can be a good responder to acupuncture or not.. take from that what you will.] then.. he went on to explain that the latest thinking is that Achilles problems may well stem from stiffness in the lower back - the fifth (if i remember rightly) vertebra. so he gave me a some massage and back-cracking for good measure.
i didn't know this before, but there some definite over-pronation with my right foot - and this could be the cause of the problem. i've got a new stretch to try out. usual calf stretch against the wall, but instead of the back foot being flat to the floor, before the stretch you raise and hold the inner arch up off the floor, thus rotating the knee outwards and stretching a slightly different way to normal. i tried it, and i could definitely feel a stronger pull on the outer-part of my calf. so we'll give that a go.
best of all: i can run again! i've had to pop up to the London Marathon Shop to get new trainers for better inner-arch support - more on those tomorrow - but i can start again. his advise was to start on a routine similar to a regular marathon schedule. so i guess i can go out and very lightly cover 2-3miles at the start and gradually build up. what a relief..
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