Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Achilles Tendonitis

I successfully summited Mount Muir and Mount Whitney on Wednesday August 3 (as a dayhike) and as I was coming down the Main Trail I noticed my left heel was all of a sudden sore. I had 5 miles left to get back to the Portal. I was wearing 5.10 Camp Four's at the time. My thought initially was those shoes were hurting me. Although it was my 4th pair (so they had worked for me before) but unlike the previous three pairs I had only hiked 25 miles in them prior to hiking Mt. Whitney.

When I got back to the Portal and took my shoes off, I felt fine. But over the last 3 days there has been some slight pain whenever I put on a shoe (it doesn't matter which shoe, even sneakers). The only exception are sandals. Not wearing anything I have no pain, but I am still worried if maybe something is wrong with my left heel.

My biggest concern is Achilles Tendonitis. The pain right now is on my left heel (near the area where the Achilles Tendon inserts to the heel bone). Is there any way to rule this out?

I got a big 9 day Black/Red/Mount Kawaeh+ Trip coming up on August 20-28.

Thanks,
Amin

I've had this as well as a ruptured achilles tendon which I wish upon no one. To me it sounds like plantar fasciitis which is inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot. This tissue is called the plantar fascia. It connects the heel bone to the toes and creates the arch of the foot.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Plantar fasciitis occurs when the thick band of tissue on the bottom of the foot is overstretched or overused. This can be painful and make walking more difficult.
Risk factors for plantar fasciitis include:
Foot arch problems (both flat feet and high arches)
Obesity or sudden weight gain
Long-distance running, especially running downhill or on uneven surfaces
Tight Achilles tendon (the tendon connecting the calf muscles to the heel)
Shoes with poor arch support or soft soles
Plantar fasciitis most often affects active men ages 40 - 70. It is one of the most common orthopedic complaints relating to the foot.
Plantar fasciitis is commonly thought of as being caused by a heel spur, but research has found that this is not the case. On x-ray, heel spurs are seen in people with and without plantar fasciitis.

Symptoms

The most common complaint is pain and stiffness in the bottom of the heel. The heel pain may be dull or sharp. The bottom of the foot may also ache or burn.

The pain is usually worse:
In the morning when you take your first steps
After standing or sitting for a while
When climbing stairs
After intense activity

The pain may develop slowly over time, or suddenly after intense activity.

GOOD LUCK.

Someone smarter than me should chime in on this. I've had friends with torn achilles, so that isn't it. Tendonitis......could be. Doesn't sound like Plantar Fasciitis to me as in my experience, it hurts every time you walk, run, etc, when it's plantar fasciitis. When I had it, I could barely walk and it took months to go completley away. I haven't had it since.

I think you may want to take some anti inflammatorys, keep your foot elevated and get some harder massage around your heal. Possibly a trip to the doc would help. I really believe in deep tissue massage, though you don't have much room there. You could also roll your foot on a golf ball, etc. You'll be fine, just take care of it. Again, hopefully rodneydoc, Ken or someone who has a bit of knowledge on this will help out here. It just sucks when your foot hurts.

Amin, the area is the area of the A tendon, and your description, and the onset is suspicious for tendonitis.

With your upcoming trip, and the severity of that, I think I would be VERY aggressive at this point. I would go to your doc, with an expectation of being prescribed a course of a full dose prescription anti-inflammatory like diclofenac. This is *not* the equivalent of motrin or naprosin otc. Probably also a quick referral to a sports physical therapist. You don't have a lot of time. I'd start right now to apply heat three time daily for 15 min, with gentle sustained stretching afterwards (no bouncing). Those two things have no potential for harm irrespective of the diagnosis, while you wait to see your clinicians, but may advance your healing, in any case.

An examination will reveal the likely true situation. If a mild strain, you can likely deal with it, and do ok with your trip. If more than that.......problematic, and you'll know it.
As they say, your mileage may vary.

best of luck working through this.

Just to clarify, I don't experience any pain at all in the mornings, after standing or sitting a while, climbing stairs. I ONLY feel pain when I put on my shoes, the pain coming from the pressure applied by the shoe to the back of my heel (again the area where the tendon inserts into the bone).

I have hiked 2100 miles the past 3.5 years and do a lot of cross-country steep hiking but I'd think my tendons would have gotten stronger by now. I am only 30 years old too. Anyhow, I did stop weight training for the past 4 months (busy at work) and once this injury heals I will start again to strengthen the tendons and joints all around.

Thanks again everyone for the inputs. I love this forum! Great people!

--Amin

Congratulations on getting to the peaks. I have had achilles tendonitis off and on for many years due to running. I know this will not solve the immediate problem. But a physical therapist told me that your achilles need three types of workouts: flexibility, strength, and endurance. As a runner I never did strength training for my achilles. So when you get over the immediate problem start doing seated heel raises to strengthen the achilles. Since then I have had no achilles problems. I hope this helps in the long run.

Amin, I have had good relief by putting a heel lift in my shoe or boot. I had two 50% Achilles tears over a period of 7 months on the same tendon. Physical Therapy and the heel lifts have kept the problem from progressing and it has now been 7 years,with over 40 14ers climbed during that time.

Amin:

This isn't plantar fasciitis because your pain is at the insertion site for the Achilles tendon and not on the bottom of the foot. Your pain may be due to a bone spur forming at the insertion site and irritating the tendon.

I wore hiking boots that may have been too tight for many years and noticed a painless protrusion on each heel. After several years of running, I developed symptoms similar to yours. X-rays revealed bone spurs on both heels, with the right heel being worse. I had surgery on the back of the right heel. The surgeon partially detached the tendon, ground down the bone spur, and screwed the tendon to the bone. Everything healed perfectly and I was back running in about 10 weeks. Unfortunately, the bone spur quickly grew back and the symptoms returned. I can only run a few miles a month, but I can hike and climb if I'm careful with the tendon. I can cycle all I want. Your results may vary.

CMC mentions heel lifts. The surgeon recommended them for me also. I use them every time I run. I also often use them for hiking up steep terrain.

I would get an X-ray to see whether you're developing bone spurs. A bone spur isn't going to get better all by itself. If it's not a bone spur, anti-inflammatory drugs, rest, and careful stretching may relieve your symptoms. Good luck.

Someone mentioned heat for Achilles tendinitis, I have battled this for sometime and if you are trying to treat something inflamed do not use heat but ice packs. Look up on the web for mild stretching techniques twice a day and ice them as much as possible. Give up the flip flops for a while and wear a good supportive shoe. It took me two months to fully recover, that is if its truly Achilles tendinitis. Rest is the other half of the treatment, don't over do it for a while. I remember at first the backs of my ankle were red from the inflammation, right over where the Achilles tendon is.

I was diagnosed 2.5 weeks ago with (Dr. talk) 'Haglunds Deformity'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haglund's_deformity

Have been in a removable hard boot with a less agressive but still hard boot to wear all night, and seeing a physical therapist who assigns radical (for me) stretches and exercises. Result being my pain has lessened radically, planting the thought in my (I know more than the Podiatrist) brain to discontue use----->I know I am NOT the doc. and will continue useage, for the prescribed six weeks.

IF your pain is localized, with a bump at the pain spot, at the rear of the heel, it sounds like bursitis, an inflammation of the bursa sac whose job is to cushion where the Achilles tendon attaches to the heel.

Feel free to contact me for more; my symptoms over time, other recommendations from my podiatrist and p.t.....................steve

Interesting. In my case, I don't have any bumps or inflamations or even redness on the back of my left heel. I'll have to wait a couple more days before seeing a doctor.

Not feeling any pain whatsoever I did a couple tests today, like standing calf raise with my own bodyweight, a quick run (no shoes) on the grass for 0.1 mile, and my left heel feels great.

I'm wondering now if my shoe was not fully broken in and just irritated some skin on the back of my heel from chafing. Again, I have to wait a couple days and see, but as of right now, any shoe I wear hurts that part of the heel.

"Haglund's deformity" sounds like a fancy name for what I had/have. Even though I grew up in Hollywood, I never wore pumps. Hiking boots and lots of running apparantly caused my symptons. Amin obviously has something entirely different. Good luck, Amin. I hope you figure it out and beat it, whatever it is.