Since running my two half marathons and a 10k last October I have been struggling with my Achilles. I decided that I needed to see a physio to get some proper treatment and advice in order to get things back on the mend. At first I chose a physio not far from where I work, nice bloke, seemed to know what he was doing and treatment commenced. Initially I thought it was going well, I held off running until he said I could, after a few sessions he gave me the go ahead to try and run, so a few days later when I had the free time I set off, wasn't long before it started hurting and I came to a stop. His answer was to try and reduce the swelling with heat packs and very gentle massage, I trusted him but in the back of my mind having listened to a running friend who had a similar injury, I was thinking "surely this should be hurting me when he's massaging the injury", it didn't and it didn't improve so after a bit of thinking I stopped going and gave up thinking about running again. I had signed up to do a Marathon after feeling so good after the Great North Run so that dream had gone as well, it's in my head to try and complete one before I'm 50 so still plenty of time left yet!!!
Then one day, sat on my backside browsing the Internet and reading drivel on facebook an advert popped up,
based in Winsford and well reviewed, so I thought a while and then said "let's do this" so i sent a message and Jillian responded quickly and I booked an initial appointment and a few days later I went to see her.
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| me in red looking very unhappy while everyone else smiles |
I was expecting a quick assessment of around 30 minutes and maybe a few pointers towards what stretches to do, I was pleasantly surprised, after a quick chat and some form filling I was told to get onto the table face down, now thinking back to my previous physio and my thoughts about how he should be hurting me, I did wonder what was going to happen, within seconds I was almost crying like a World Cup footballer who had been gently touched by the opposition. It felt like she was standing on my calf, like my leg was going to be pushed through the table, the pain was immense and was right on a huge knot in my muscle, probably the one caused when I carried on running for 2 hours after pulling my calf in the Malta half marathon back in 2010, must have been all the uphill sections!!
I was regretting thinking I should be in pain but grimaced and didn't scream too much. The massage continued for quite a while, the pain I endured became easier to deal with and I relaxed......then!!! acupuncture too!! which to be truthful isn't painful at all unless you wiggle the needles about too much.
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| not an official photo, I do not look like that! |
So overall for the first treatment I had, intense massage on my calf and Achilles, some acupuncture, and endured a lot of pain. We also talked about my feet, despite the sports shop in Northwich telling me I had neutral feet I actually have slightly fallen arches, Jillian suggested maybe some more supportive insoles so I trawled the Internet and found some,.
having now used these for a few weeks I feel more support underfoot.
I have now been out running several times, very slowly and I am now up to 18 minutes in duration, I still feel slight discomfort in the area of the Achilles and lower calf but it does wear off after a while. I am continuing with the physio treatment, stretching when I can and I now have a strengthening exercise to do, I just need to work less hours so I can fit them all in.
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| I'll drink to that!!! |
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