Chronic achilles tendinitis

I'm hoping for some advice and feedback, and if Coach Sommer can offer some thoughts, that would be awesome.

 

I just turned 40, and I also just purchased the Fundamentals series. I feel like the discovery of this site and gymnastics is wonderfully timed, as I feel like bodyweight strength training is the perfect foundation to longevity, as compared to heaving barbells around every day.

 

My question:

Back in college, I developed tendinitis in both achilles tendons. I assume it had to do with muscle imbalances, crappy shoes, the recklessness of youth, the absence of any mobility work, etc. I fought through the pain for years, with my right achilles finally rupturing in 2005. Oddly enough, once the right achilles recovered from the rupture (which included surgery), I no longer have any inflammation, soreness, or tendinitis in it.

 

Meanwhile, my left achilles continues to feel inflamed and junky on a daily basis--especially when I wake up.

 

I've listened to the interviews with Tim Feriss, and my key takeaways for my achilles are (1) using heat to increase blood flow; (2) gorging the calf with blood to help circulation in the achilles area, especially before being active on it; and (3) high-volume calf work, which I have avoided, may actually help counter that inflammation. 

 

I'm wondering if any specific advice or particular regimen applies to achilles tendinitis that is more than fifteen years old. What else can/should I be doing?

 

Thanks for all responses!

 

-Ben

Hi Ben I have some tips very useful for you:

-try to avoid excessive tension on the calves. perform some foam rolling on the gastrocnemius so that the afascia could be released

-perform some bent knees hamstring stretching

-perform tibialis stretch. the anterior tibialis if is tight tends to stretch all the day the achilles. on the other side you need to keep it away from stress.

Thank you, Alessandro! I appreciate your response very much.

 

Can you recommend some "bent knee hamstring stretches?" None come to mind immediately.

 

Excited to get started.

Hi Ben,

The GB Front Split course contains what you are looking for.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer