Dumb heel and/or ankle!

[sundial]

I can deal with body parts that wrinkle, sag or pooch.
I don't mind if my hair is a tad thinner.
But darn it, I hate when body parts decide to go on strike--without warning!

I've been on my mtb in Nov/Dec/Jan and aside from being a weenie on occasion, I've not had any problems. Then I get on the road bike for the first long ride of the season and I was thoroughly enjoying it for the first 40 miles. I felt strong, my cadence was 95, and my av. speed was 17.2 mph. Then out of nowhere my achilles tendon on the right foot goes haywire in a big way with pain and swelling. A lump developed in the middle of my tendon and I had to wear clogs for a couple of days because of the swelling. Funny thing is, I could stretch it and it didn't even hurt.

So I called the ortho doc Monday and explained to his nurse what happened this past weekend. She suggested I do some stretching exercises (which I have been) and to consider using a heel cup. I'll give it a try but I'm not optimistic. I won't get to see the doc until next week if it's not better.

I hate getting old(er).

[Brandy]

sundial...I had some achilles issues last week because of some sloppy saddle swapping and bike fitting on my part. Long story short, my saddle was too high, I angered my achilles and was off the bike for two days. Lots of rest and icing and I felt better when I rode on Monday.

Could your saddle on your road bike be too high?

[sundial]

Brandy, it doesn't feel like it but I can lower it just a little and see.

[rocknrollgirl]

That is how I feel about the current misbehavior of my knee. Blam out of nowhere. What the heck....It is frustrating.

[sundial]

Rocknrollgirl, it is frustrating, isn't it?

Brandy, I lowered the seat on my bike and took it out for a ride. My achilles knot was starting to rear it's ugly head again so I headed back. I'm beginning to wonder if I am due for orthotics.

[KnottedYet]

You might only be due for a medial forefoot wedge (like are built into Specialized Body Geometry shoes, or you can have put into your shoes at a shoe repair shop).

If your forefoot doesn't get the weight transfer pattern heel-toe like it does when walking, it doesn't always get set up to be a rigid lever. So it kind of collapses (pronates) throwing your foot/ankle/knee/and sometimes hip out of whack. Sometimes the poor achilles tendon will jump in at this point and try to stabilize the system. Since it really can't do that well, ya get tendonitis and other nasty boogers. (if the achilles doesn't even try, you can end up with knee pain as it is the next joint to take the stress)

A medial wedge (3 to 5 degrees) in the forefoot stabilizes and approximates a rigid lever.

Most PTs can give you a wedge of the correct angle for you, for free (billed as part of your treatment) A shoe store or shoe repair shop will charge you about $15. Bike shops sometimes do it as part of a fitting.

If you want UNOFFICIAL NOT-MEDICAL-ADVICE DO AT YOUR OWN RISK hints of how to fake a wedge with a piece of typing paper, PM me.