These are not my feet, btw.

My injury became the inspiration behind The Marathon That Got Away.

Thankfully my tendon hasn’t bothered me for the last two weeks and I’m ready to slowly ease back into running.

I’m thankful to Angie (my wife) and my physical therapist friend Dr. Ben Shatto for helping me diagnose and deal with this injury before it got serious.

Here’s what I’ve been doing

Six Things I’m Doing to Fix My Achilles Tendonitis

1. I’ve Stop Running (temporarily)
It goes without saying that if you injure your achilles tendon you need to take time off and rest it. I’ve never had trouble skipping a run so I’m happy to report that I score a 100% on the “resting it” strategy.

I’m still doing low impact cross-training to stay in shape. In particular, I’m working my way through the P90X3 DVDs. I’ve learned to skip the agility session which requires non-stop jumping. I go on a vigorous bike ride instead.

2. I’m taking Tissue Rejuvenator by Hammer Nutrition.
I’ve been a longtime fan of Hammer. Their tissue rejuvenator is an anti-inflammatory supplement that helps with both maintenance and recovery. You can view product ingredients here.

3. Foam Rolling
We have a couple foam rollers around the house and I’ve been sure to roll out my calves before bed. It helps to put the foam roller in a place where I’ll see it and be reminded. I admit that I need more practice in foam roller-ology. I should probably stay on it longer.

Achilles compression brace

5. Eccentric Muscle Training
Dr. Ben recommended performing heel raises to lengthen the muscle. Basically, I raise up for one second and take five seconds to come down slowly, repeating this move 20-30 times. Pretty easy.

6. I Visited My Chiropractor for an Adjustment
I haven’t been to the chiropractor in 7 months and, as you will see by the photos, I was way out of adjustment! The imbalance in my hips contributed to the injury.

My chiropractor snapped theses before and after pics. I knew I was out of adjustment but didn’t know it was this bad.

Before adjustment

After adjustment

I go to an upper cervical chiropractor who specializes in adjusting the top vertebra. The theory is that once you “get your head on straight” the spine aligns itself. If you haven’t been to the chiro in awhile you might be misaligned (unequal legs) too and could end up with a running injury. Join me in the fight against leg length inequality, visit the chiro today!

That’s it folks! Hopefully I’ll be back to my old self in time for the Marine Corp Marathon. A more detailed post on how to rehabilitate Achilles Tendinitis can be found here.

photo credit: Bob Barely Time; Flickr Creative Commons