Pain in back of heel - ideas???

johnnyc71

I'll be booking a doctors appointment in the morning, but that'll take over a week to come through, so I thought someone here may be able to help.

If I stretch my calf muscle (with my foot flat on the floor) it causes a bolt of pain in the back of my heel. Not pleasant. If I cycle I feel no pain at all, and walking is fine too. In the morning the back of the heel feels slightly tight.

It's really frustrating to have to take time of the bike, but I don't want to make things worse. I've been cycling 70 miles per week and have slowly increased it to around 90 miles weekly - was feeling good on the bike, so don't really think I have overtrained.

Any ideas?

CrookedCucumber

The symptoms you describe are common in achilles tendon injuries and also plantar fasciitis (which might be related). Both are usually caused either by overuse or by acute injury (typically over-stretching).

But this is the wrong place to get medical advice, in my view. A GP should know the correct places to prod and poke to distinguish between a tendinosis (chronic degeneration of the tendon, usually from overuse) and a tear in the tendon or ligament. It's not easy to do that via a bulletin board And you might need x-rays to rule out a fracture.

In any case, if you GP doesn't advise you to rest the affected part, I will be very surprised (sorry). If it is tendinosis, there are certain exercises and stretches that help some folks. Incorrect fitting of toe clips or cleats is sometimes a factor, too.

johnnyc71

I take the point about a virtual diagnosis - just wanted a general idea. Whatever it is - I've got a horrible feeling my cycling is going to be curtailed - and that makes me feel very sad indeed. Thanks for the reply though.

milese

I get the same if I run, well, I get the stiffness in the morning but no major bolts of pain.

Wake up in the mornings and hobble a bit if I've done anything the day before that involves running.

Cycling doesn't cause any problems.

I was told it was due to short tight calves, and to stretch them more often. This seems to have helped, although I dont do much running any more due to bad knees.

I do simple things like drop my heels off a stair whilst brushing my teeth every day. Obviously making sure that you warm up and down, and stretch before and after exercise will help.

lilactime

could be the start of plantar fasciitis ? ive had it for 6 months brought on by over doing the running . important to stretch several times a day . google plantar to get the excercises , cant stress how important it is to do these , or you could have it long term .

johnnyc71

Good news - my GP told me it was inflamation / tendonitus - suggested stretching and packing in ice for 20 mins daily. So all I need to do is gently nurse it. Apparantly having size 13 feet puts alot of strain on the tendons.

I actually spent more time chatting about cycling than my condition. My GP has cycled the Himalayas, across India and has completed the Paris Brest. He was a really cool guy. And the bonus was, he said I should be able to continue cycling without any problems .

He said I should give the speedplay frogs a go - might look into this.

morrisje

Myself and 2 others have had exactly the same issue. We all had to go to a sports therapist who put an electical pulse machine on each calf. Also a bit of very painful massage and some stretching. This seems to have fixed it. although if I don't do the stretching daily it will reoccur.
We all got this when we starting combining running and cycling. The other two were runners who started cycling as well and I always cycled but started doing more running.