Achilles Tendinitis from Cycling
Hi everyone, I had achilles tendonitis last year and thought it might be from all the cycling I was doing (came on after a big weekend of cycling), but was not sure. Regardless, I treated the issue and got back at it, but I am only into week 2 of OS and I can feel the same symptoms coming back and I truely believe it is from the cycling, so I did a little search on the web and found this. What are your thoughts on this.
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Achilles Tendonitis in Cyclists, Runners and Triathletes
Whether your problem is ITB syndrome or Achilles Tendonitis ("AT"), quite often the source of your "running" pain is cycling-equipment related.
In nearly all of my high volume athletes that experience Achilles issues, the root cause can be traced back to their pedal system. What follows are excerpts from a common thread.
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With your AT -- check for lateral rock in your bike shoes. Nearly all my athletes' AT issues can be traced back to the bike -- specifically a worn cleat/shoe interface or Speedplay pedals. We need lateral stability. Any material pronation in the foot, eventually, fatigues the calf - in turn, causing your cycling load to move down to your AT.
Question: What is it about old shoes that makes them a problem? I currently use old Carnacs and Speedplay pedals. Plaatjes had suggested that I get a different pair of pedals.
Answer: That was the exact set-up that I had when I experienced a recurring AT irritation. Here's what happens...
- The shoe is able to rock
- The foot pronates through the bottom of the shoe stroke
- Torque is pasted up the lower leg
- Your calves take it until they are fatigued then the AT is overloaded
This problem cleared in 72 hours when I bought new shoes and went to Look pedals. When your irritated leg is clipped into the shoe have someone hold your heel/toe and see if they can rock the shoe (laterally, not swinging the heel). If you have a lot of rock then I would bet that this is the source of your AT pain.
Please way in.
Comments
Part of my solution for the Achilles' tendon/ peroneal tendon problem I had at the end of this last summer was to move my cleat back a bit toward the middle of the shoe and drop my seat a bit to reduce 'ankling' on my peddle stroke. Seemed to work.
EDIT: 'pedal' stroke. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, not their own spelling LOL.
Brenda,
I went through the same process a few years ago and finally found out it was not my running but my cycling that was the major contributor to my AT problems. Like Satish I moved my cleats back and to help solve the problem. As the article noted I also switched from speedplay to looks and bought a carbon sole cycling shoe to have less flextion in the shoe when cycling.
I can't remember if I did all three changes at once or did the pedal switch and then the new shoe's then moved the cleats back the following year.
I still had to play with my cleat position several times after this initial set up but this was to accommodate my left leg which I broke several years ago. I continue to use this set up with no problems on the bike. Any AT issues I've had in the last couple years was from being too fat and/or ramping up running too fast.
Gordon
Well, about 15 minutes in, deraileur skipped so badly, my left speedplay pedal became unclipped. The whole crank slipped around, and that speedplay pedal hit me square in the left achilles. BOOM. Pain. Swelling. And I've had tendonitis swells ever since. I just started noticing it kicking in again as I jumped back on the trainer this JOS.
I'll check my cleats (as I almost always replace them at the beginning of the year/season) to see if they're worn; even tho 2012 was my lowest volume cycling year in several.
I'm already as far back as I can go on the cleat position, due to hot spots on the ball of my feet.
Thanks for the link great info and I have just switched to look from SPDs. I had severe AT issues a few years back and had to DNS a goal marathon, and the thing that got me back was eccentric strength exercises and now I do these two three times a weeks after my bike rides
http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/eccentric_achilles
x2 on the eccentric exercises.
Lots of info here as well:
http://runningwritings.blogspot.ca/search?q=achilles
Don't know. But like my Speedplays a lot.
Couldn't one make the argument that a more fixed pedal/shoe interface, like Look, would make A.T. worse? Directs the force in one specific direction versus allowing the heel to move, disappating the forces.
About 4 months ago, i was diagnosed with posterior tibial tendonitis. Initially, the pain only happened during running, but as i backed off the run and increased my bike mileage i started feeling the same pain while biking. After talking to my doc, he suggested Sole orthotics for cycling. His opinion was not enough people use orthotics while cycling and typical cycling shoes offer little in the way of support from over pronating - similar to what is stated in the article you shared. Since i started using inserts i have felt no pain while cycling. Running is still TBD. Granted you are deaing with a different injury, but because nothing happens in isolation thought i would share my experience. Hopefully you will find something that solves your problem. Being injured just sucks! Good luck!