Lower leg/Achilles pain
- Related Injuries: Feet, Ankles & Lower leg
April 27, 2022
Hi,
35yr old male, recently started playing football again, after a couple of games, experiencing pain in legs/feet mainly lower Calf/Achilles – subsiding on day 2 hard to tell if DOMS or inflammation/mild tendonitis… I feel like its overuse & lack of conditioning/strength in legs causing but… have had a ruptured Achilles 3 years ago (had a successful heal /rehabilitation and worked my ass of to regain strength and form in that tendon) strangely the majority of pain is in my non ruptured tendon this time – I suspect as its shorter now than the ruptured one.
Any tips for recovery / avoiding pain / conditioning / stretching – possibly heel cups for boots etc?
Thanks, you guys are fantastic…
Joe
April 27, 2022
Hi Joe
I think this might an easy one…and think you’re on the right track with the lack of conditioning.
It sounds as if you’ve just started kicking a ball about and probably haven’t done enough similar based work before hand. We’re great at doing things in straight lines, same speed and predictable….footie is the opposite with change of direction, stop/start and unpredictable play.
By all means do some calf strengthening, eccentric loading and some pre game dynamic stretching but I think time and keeping playing at a constant (ie not playing for a month then returning) will be the best and easiest outcome.
You probably feel more in your unaffected achilles as it’s naturally stiffer and is just starting ti feel the very first effect of age – which isn’t an issue at all per se, just a statement of fact!
Hope this helps
The Guru
