Achilles tendonitis

[Sonolanona]

I started playing squash a few months ago and am now playing regularly.. I love it. However I am having trouble with my achilles tendons, esp my right leg (dominant) After playing it stiffens up quite painfully, and the next morning hurts to get out of bed, and is generally a bit sore at all times.
I'm not sedentary, (walk dog, have an allotment and an active job and did taekwondo to black belt a few years ago) and it's really giving me trouble.

Any tips on how to improve things? I do not want to stop playing as it's given me a fresh enthusiams for life, and I've made new friends (not so easy in your 50s!)
Thanks!

Warm up and stretch.
warm up until you feel warm.
lots of stretches - lots

Look up Alfredsons heel drops.. you need to do some eccentric loading. Physio can help you.

Go and see a sports physio and ask their advice about exercises. A lot of stretching could make it worse rather than better. Changing your footwear might help.

Just out of interest, do you have swayback knees?

No swayback ..more the opposite tbh...I have rather tight hamstrings, and even when I was training several times a week at Taekwondo I never managed to get as flexible there as I'd have liked!

I'll ask at the club if anyone can suggest a sports physio! And perhaps some new shoes... mine are fairly elderly, and although they are in good nick, maybe they aren't quite right for me... thank you!

I'm suffering from this at present and my physio has recommended calf strengthening exercises rather than stretching, so mainly calf raises. I'm doing some foam rollering but she's advised me against lots of stretching, saying that whilst it may feel good at the time, long term it won't help and may in fact delay recovery. Obviously that's me though, i don't know if that's universal so do get some professional advice. I've read a few websites that say that aggressive stretching is best avoided though.
I have got some heel pads to increase the heel-toe drop in my shoes which seems to be helping. Completely flat shoes are bad idea and I'm trying to avoid going barefoot which is proving a bit difficult in this heat.
And unfortunately rest/avoiding whatever movement is precipitating symptoms is important. I normally walk a lot but have switched to more cycling and less walking. My physio said that it's OK to do exercise that leads to mild pain but not more than that, and I need to judge it on how I feel the next day as well as at the actual time ie even if I feel fine actually doing the activity, if I am really hobbling when I get out of bed the next morning then that's too much and I need to cut back to no more than discomfort and start to build slowly back up. It's all rather frustrating- you have my sympathy OP.

Thank you for replying...I'll have a google as there must be something out there (before I fork out for a physio 😆) I put a support on this morning for my coaching session but have to admit it's not a happy tendon now...but I don't want to have to stop playing for a while!!!

Aha!

That's it then. Your problems are being caused by your tight hamstrings, and the knock-on effect is putting too much strain on your achilles tendons.

I had the same issue a few years ago.