Pain underneath the Achilles Tendon
Thursday, March 27, 2014
A new injury, or should I say pesky set back, has been pain on the back of my calf, above the ankle about 4 inches and seemingly on either side of my Achilles tendon. I've had this happen twice now within the last 2 months, so I thought it was worthy to write a blurb on it by chance others are suffering with this issue.
I first noticed a mild pain during a run--I was running outside and I ran across someone's gravel driveway that had some large rocks--like river rocks. My right ankle wobbled naturally as I navigated across and I noticed a little strain on the outside, back of my right leg. It was uncomfortable for a minute or so and then seemed to ease up. I was at mile 1.25 when that happened. At mile 5.7, I should have stopped but 6 was so close! I shouldn't have pushed it, because when I hit 6 and walked I was hobbling a little. Shame on me, I know. The pain was more like an ache on the outer lower calf of my right leg. At one point I thought I felt pain going up the back from the heel and worried if it was an Achilles issue.
When I got home and did some googling trying to figure out what muscle was really bothering me, it turned out to be my soleus muscle. The pain up the calf from my ankle was really just faking me out--it was really the soleus as it is located under the Achilles tendon.
I remember a visit to my PT within the past 8 months or so where he gave me an exercise to strengthen this muscle. I can't actually remember what pain I was having then, only that he gave me an exercise to strengthen the soleus. I do remember him saying that the job of the soleus is to provide stability or stabilize the leg you are standing on for that brief moment when you alternate feet during running. He said that sometimes when you increase your mileage, that other muscles develop or strengthen faster than the soleus, and since the soleus is weaker it eventually gives you some pain. I did the exercises and the pain went away.
The exercise was to sit on the floor with the affected leg out in front of you, loop a small exercise band (about 6") around the top of your foot, and attach the loop to something (I put mine under the couch leg) and use only the top of your foot to stretch the band away. Then change positions so that you can have the band looped around the same foot but this time rotate in. I'm sure there is a name for this exercise, but I don't know it's official name. Just make sure the loop is around the ball of your foot, not the arch. And GO SLOW!
It made sense when I thought about how it came on when I ran across the river rock--it took a lot more effort to stabilize me on uneven ground and my lower leg just pooped out. I also cut back my mileage a little and made sure that I didn't drastically increase my milage after--like no more than 10% per week so that my soleus could have time to adjust. My PT also said no running hills until it got better. Hope this helps!
