Achilles Tendonitis: Episode 48

In this episode: We discuss Achilles Tendonitis

Chip Review: Chio – Sweet Chili & Red Pepper (13:40)

Trivia question of the week: Which 2 US states boarder 8 other states? (13:17)

Follow us on Instagram: 2pts_n_a_bagofchips and/or Twitter @2PTsNaBagOChips to see photos, video and get additional episode specific information throughout the week.

Thanks for listening!!

Achilles tendonitis is the topic today. Before we get to far into that here is a brief overview of the Achilles.

The Achilles is the largest tendon in the body, it is one of the toughest to tear. We did a whole podcast on Achilles Repair. The Achilles is the attachment for the gastrocnemius, a two joint muscle, and the soleus (one joint muscle). These muscles make up the two layers of the calf. The gastrocnemius is the fast twitch muscle and the soleous is the slow twitch. Both muscles are innervated by the tibial nerve.

The group as a whole is responsible for forced plantar flexion, also known as push-off as well as eccentric dorsi-flexion aka landing. You will see Achilles tendonitis fairly often in a few groups of individuals.

Runners are the most commonly affected group. You also see Achilles tendonitis with impact sports such as basketball, tennis, lacrosse, soccer and volleyball. There is a good deal of research that has found that increased BMI also plays a role.

Some differential diagnosis is often appropriate when given a diagnosis of Achilles tendonitis. With younger ages, people who are going through a growth spurt, you will sometimes see Sever’s Disease diagnosed as Achilles tendonitis. Sever’s is similar to Osgood-Schlatter’s disease at the heel instead of the knee. With an older population you can see calcaneal bursitis and rarely a partial Achilles tear or calf strain.

If left untreated a tendonitis can become a tendonosis. A tendonosis is much harder to treat. This is a chronic condition that is no longer in the inflammatory stage. Our recommendation with tendonitis is to treat it early and not to let it get out of hand. Physical therapy is a great tool in managing and treating Achilles tendonitis.

Check out our other podcast with similar topics:

Stretching: Episode 25

Covering myths, legends, current best practices and the how, when, what, where of stretching
We review Jimmy Chips – Original from Jimmy Johns. Thanks Hank!
Trivia question of the week: How many people were killed by aardvarks in 2018?
Follow us on Instagram: 2pts_n_a_bagofchips and/or Twitter @2PTsNaBagOChips to see photos, video and get additional episode specific information throughout the week.
Thanks for listening!!

Today we are going to go over stretching. To stretch, not to stretch, when should you stretch, how should you stretch. How hard should you stretch. And we are going to review the Jimmy Johns Original potato chip, compliments of Hank. “Just like it ought to be”, it say’s it right there on the bag. It does say that. It also says crunchy and salty, it’s kinda doing our job for us. We don’t even have to test them. If you like crunchy and salty go get you some Jimmy Chips.

Stretching. Stretchiinngg. No, not really, don’t stretch often? Sometimes? Stretching in the traditional sense of static holding, you shouldn’t really do. No. Lots of evidence suggests; don’t do it before activity because it reduces your ability to produce force. Afterward it has no effect on your soreness, really at all, statistically speaking. Again we are talking about static stretching here.

That is kind of what you think about when you stretch. You stand and hold one position for 30 seconds or a minute or what have you. A lot this has to do with, if you are trying to make meaningful change in the length of muscles and or tendons, more likely muscles. You have to hold that position for upwards of 30 minutes. So most people are not doing that, for obvious reasons. You don’t have that kind of time.

If you really want to make an improvement you have to spend a lot of time. Think of a goaltenders, dancers or cheerleaders doing the splits. They spend a lot of time over a long period working themselves into those positions, many years. Short term you may get a little relief but it’s not really helping you with anything in particular.

It depends on what you goal is. What are you trying to get out of stretching? Are you trying to prevent injury? Are you trying to lengthen muscles? Are you trying to relax muscles? Stretching has been used over the years to influence all of these and is not necessarily very effective. There are other ways to more effectively warm up or cool down or length tissue. So stretching in its original sense is not really as useful or effective for that.