New Random Heel Pain
I'm a "nip-it-in-the-bud-before-a-problem-gets-too-big" kinda girl. Last week I started getting some pain in the back of my heel (achilles?) after my long run. Felt like maybe my sneaks were rubbing too much. (They were at the end of their life) I tried walking the dog later that day and it hurt too much. With no shoes on, no pain (or extremely little).
Today I did my long run with newer sneaks. A little less pain during the run and didn't creep in til later, but pain was worse when walking around in my non-running sneaks. Shoes off, fine. I actually went and bought new running sneaks. (Hard too tell which were best since my heel hurt in all of them, so I stuck with a new pair of Adidas Supernova Glides. (Pair #3) Wore non-running sneaks on Fri. to work and no issue so it seems to be specific to long run days, but can't be sure because wore sandals or flats for the rest of the week last week.
So what's going on? Its not rubbing/chaffing pain, and I'm not even sure if it is the sneaker rubbing that is causing the pain, just aggravating it. I know that several folks have struggled with Achilles issues and want to do the right thing from the get-go rather than waiting til it gets worse and screws up IMFL. Walking actually hurts a bit more. (Maybe it will force me to run more on my long runs....) Or is it no big deal?
Any input/suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!
Comments
You may be slamming your heel down on your run, especially at the tail end of your long runs when your form may begin to deteriorate. I had that problem when I was running with minimal shoes - as things went to crap there was little heel cushioning.
You might want to get someone to perform a bit of gait analysis on you and then provide some specific recommendations. If you go this route make sure and bring your older running shoes to the appointment so he/she can see what has been going on.
It is good that you are addressing things now. If your problem evolves into tendon issues you could be looking at some long time recovery. Tendons are tough to stretch and heal because they have so little pliability and very little blood flow compared to muscles.
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diseases/facts/heelpain.htm
If its in the back of the heel where the achilles tendon meets the bone and you dont think its from your shoe rubbing it could be inflammation where the tendon meets the bone (enthesitis). Have you gone to a lower heel drop shoe or are you doing more hills lately? If it's enthesitis eccentric exercises will help (they helped me a lot). This blog post has an excellent review. http://runningwritings.blogspot.ca/2011/08/injury-series-eccentric-exercise-and.html