Many soccer players know the problem of a Achilles tendon irritation. Once you “have” problems with your Achilles tendon, you won't get rid of them anytime soon. Today we want to take a look at how an Achilles tendon irritation can occur and then show you an exercise that will help you with the treatment.
In particular, it is important to:
prevention before rehabilitation.
Don't just react when the problems arise, but take care of your Achilles tendon preventively! We don't want your heel to be your undoing — as with the tragic demigod Achilles from Greek mythology.
In our article today, we not only have a great exercise for you, but also a free guide, with which you can help yourself.
We have already introduced you to the Achilles tendon and its characteristics. The task of the tendon to transfer the strength of the calf muscles to the bony structures plays a major role in almost all football-specific movement patterns.
This means that a high load is inevitable. In any case, the Achilles tendon is one of the most heavily stressed areas in soccer.
If the load exceeds the load capacity of the structures in the short or medium term, this results in an overload of the tendon, a so-called Achilles tendon irritation. This irritation is expressed primarily in shooting pain in the area of the tendon course or directly above the heel bone.
In addition to the pain mentioned above, tendon irritation often also hardens the calf muscles and the Achilles tendon is sensitive to pressure. In the course of this irritation, there may also be functional restrictions, especially in the mobility of the ankle joint and swelling or an increase in temperature.
The first intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors include foot shape, lack of blood flow to the tendon and age.
In addition, there are primarily functional causes such as altered ankle kinematics or severe overpronation. A poor balance of stress and resilience can also be a cause of your Achilles tendon irritation.
Under the ankle kinematics Let us understand the range of movements of your ankle joint. One overpronation describes the excessive “tilting” of the foot inwards during the rolling movement.
In total, one Achilles tendon irritation Not only painful, but also leads to a massive drop in performance. In some cases, the foot cannot be strained at all (sportively).
That's exactly why we want to show you what you can do about it.
Combat your injury with B42
In addition to choosing the optimal footwear and functional testing of the lower extremities, sufficiently flexible and strong calf muscles in particular are an important factor in preventing Achilles tendon problems.
We'll show you an exercise to stabilize your calf muscles at a later stage. Today we want to focus on the mobility of your ankles and therefore your Achilles tendon.
To ensure the mobility of your ankles, but also to protect your Achilles tendon in the long term, this drill is perfect:
The foot circle.
We explain the exercise to you here in a short video:
During rehabilitation after such an injury, you should definitely remain active. First, however, we recommend that you switch to sports such as cycling, swimming or aqua jogging. This allows you to reduce the load on your Achilles tendon.
In addition to acute treatment (physiotherapy, massage, stretching and mobilization of the calf), you should work with an expert. This can help you find the cause of the overload. This is the only way you can avoid renewed Achilles tendon irritation.
The following three questions can help you find the trigger for the first time:
For a final diagnosis However, we recommend that you see an expert. These are not easy to find, which is why we want to offer you our help.
Be fearless. Be focused. B42
Achilles tendon pain - B42 is the answer
.jpg)
