Tendonitis any advice, please?

[Liverbird77]

I've been back to training for about two months. Prior to this I had done no exercise for about 18 months... pregnancy, lockdown and the ties of breastfeeding!
I am not new to exercise though, of that makes a difference.
I have been training x4 a week, including some very short runs.
I've developed awful tendonitis around my heel. It's so painful I can't comfortably do heel raises or even walk normally downstairs until it's warned up a bit. Running is a real struggle.
.I am very frustrated because I am loving being back. It's great for my mental health and I am losing weight gradually.

Please, please can anyone who's been through this give me some advice? I don't want to stop training but I don't want to make it worse!

Not in my heel, but had it under my kneecap really bad. Only thing that worked for me was to see a physio and get brufen from my GP.

You need to stop training. It sounds like a possible overuse injury.
Rest, ice, periods of elevation and take it easy so it heals properly.

It's frustrating but training through an injury tends to make it worse.

See a chiropractor. You can ice it, then warm it, then ice it again and also use ibuprofen gel but the Chiropractor will be able to advise on exercises to help. It may be that you need to rest it for a while too?

It does sound like maybe you’ve come back a bit hard and fast? Bodies change after pregnancy too, you might be a bit more lopsided these days (speaking from experience).

Personally I would rest it for a week or two and go back in much smaller/more gentle increments - and if it flares up again seek out an experienced sports physio to give you personalised help.

That's a good point about pregnancy thursday. After pregnancy I needed high support shoes for a while because i developed an overpronation that wasn't there before.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments.
I will take it a bit easier. We are on holiday for a week soon too, so that'll give me chance to rest it properly. So frustrating!

Boring holiday advice alert. If you're likely to be doing day trips or lots of walking, try and have decent shoes or sandals on so it's properly supported.

obviously there's no bitter experience of wearing comfy pretty fashionable sandals after an ankle injury and finding it took longer to heal

@LolaSmiles you make an excellent point, however as a mum of a one year old and two year old, I am all about the comfy shoes

The first thing I would say is get shoes that have a bit of an elevated heel. Don’t wear completely flat shoes!

I got it in my feet, for months and months. It was agony. To be honest I had to stop doing the dance classes I loved, start wearing sensible shoes and if I feel the pain come back work out what caused it and stop. I am in my 50s and convinced it's linked to the menopause.

Achilles or plantar fascititis or both, OP?
You'll have to ease up on whatever caused it, to start.

you make an excellent point, however as a mum of a one year old and two year old, I am all about the comfy shoes
Me too these days, alas in my pre children years I was substantially more foolish and thought that shiny flat summer sandals were acceptable because they were flat.

... I was very wrong.

It's just my Achilles, I think. I do t have pain in my actual foot, just the heels.

I've been stretching before the gym and using a band to stretch a bit more when I get there.
I am not running and have been warming up on rower and bike instead.

I am not going to run for two weeks and see how it goes. So frustrating!!!

Google the right stretches, do them twice a day, buy orthotics (arch supports) and wear them all the time, ice regularly.

I did 20 minutes of ice every day, plus proper warm up and stretching which sorted it out.
It probably would have gone quicker if I had rested more and run less, but I’m a slave to my plan.

It really sucks, but yes, probably overuse

I have had it a few times when I tried to up my exercise from 2x a week to 5x a week

Needed 2 weeks rest, ice, ibuprofen

After that I avoided it by slowly increasing activity, having rest days, and buying proper footwear (Asics gel resolution instead of ancient Nikes ) and doing heel drops every day (on stairs, let heels drop slowly and then move to heel raise, drop again etc x20 2 times a day)

It’s frustrating to have to rest. But you’ll get there