Achilles pain - bike fitting or inlays

Brassy

at the end of last season I increased my training rides up to 80 miles and have started getting a dull ache in my achilles. Some friends say just lower the miles, others say get a bike fitting and in my local shop they propose inserts in my shoes. All a bit confusing! Any ideas on this?

Stick8267

Not sure how your LBS can recommend inserts when they haven't done a bike fit or biomechanical analysis.

I would get a proper bike fit and lower the miles until that is done. If your fit has always been wrong your achilles may have been able to cope until you increased the loading.

If that doesn't work get a proper assessment by a sport doc or good sport physio, preferably with an ultrasound.

lef

How quick did you increase to 80 miles and from what mileage? Could just be a case of too much too soon. Also look up ''ankling'. If your pedalling technique has excessive ankling this could be a reason.

Team4Luke

you should get it confirmed that it is achilles and do that now ! if it is you must cease riding now and rest unless you want it permanently, I know from experience, I kept riding when I should have phoned home for a lift back, 6 months out of my racing season, took this long to get rid of it and introduce cycling back a bit at a time.
Only rest and Physio which works well for this is the cure, then start riding short distances just a few miles at a time building up until you feel confident it isn't coming back.
A great tip I can give you and everyone whether you have this or not, is, when you wake up in the morning, lie on your back, and stretch your heels, do this by pointing your foot downward and then pulling it upward at the ankle, basically stretching it in readiness for getting out of bed, when you do get out always put both feet together and both down at the same time, each foot is supporting the other, Getting out one foot at a time without stretching seems to really hurt my achilles, if I do my stretching, never bothers me.
Achilles can simply come out of the blue but usually something sets it off, in my case massive back to back hard rides sometimes twice a week, does sound like your change in distance has placed extra stress on your heel, always use good quality socks, stick with shoes you know, be cafeful with thick overshoes in winter, really places a lot of extra pressure for your ankle to deal with the extra force to bend ankle and oversocks. Doub inserts are the answer as this is more for leg/foot alignment issues down through the knee line. But my friend has just had a fitting for shoe and cleat wedges and he came back very pleased with how he can now ride also has helped with his knumb foot problem too, certainly worth seeing a specialist in this area and I mean a specialist not a bike shop.
Hope that helps.

Monty Dog

Agree that wedges are unlikely to resolve your problem, but perhaps a bike-fit as you may be hyper-extending your leg, leading to excessive flexion of your foot exacerbated by the increase in mileage. Could also be due to inflammation from a poorly-fitting / rubbing shoe. Whatever you do, back-off on the cycling until you know what it is causing your problem.

Toks

Brassy wrote:

at the end of last season I increased my training rides up to 80 miles and have started getting a dull ache in my achilles. Some friends say just lower the miles, others say get a bike fitting and in my local shop they propose inserts in my shoes. All a bit confusing! Any ideas on this?

Hmmm I had the whole of last season off the bike for pretty much the same kinda injuries. I went to Steve Hogg's Bike Fitting Website (google it) sat down and read up. I then got some Specialised footbeds, then changed from my too wide fitting Sidi shoes to Mavic shoes. Finally I'm enjoying pain free rides