Achilles Problems

[titanif]

I have done a number of tours and had two tours cut short by achilles tendinitus. I,m not sure if it was due to poor conditioning or pushing too hard for the first few days.
Any tips or tricks to deal with achilles problem? Thanks It is always just my right foot.

[Iowagriz]

Tour Divide races that have that problem, play with seat height and/or pedal with their mid-foot to get it to go away. I do believe that most end up riding to the finish with a slightly lower seat height.

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[Westinghouse]

Judging from my own experience with acute achilles tendonitis, I would say you can eliminate the pain and discomfort over night, in one day. My left achilles tendon became extremely painful when cycling the pacific coast bicycle route in 1993.  It looked like the entire trip would have to be scrapped and I would have to go limping back to Florida. But I decided to combat this infirmity. I decided to try something to cure it, and it worked.

I bought a tube of aspercreme and a small bottle of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide). I laid over in a motel in Eureka, California taking the room as early in the day as possible. You have to wash the affected area of skin thoroughly with hot water and soap. Rub in the aspercreme as directed.  Give it plenty of time to absorb. Wash that off thoroughly. Apply the DMSO. Let it absorb. I applied and reapplied like that all day long, into the night until I had to sleep. The next morning my extremely painful inflamed tendon was 100% pain free.  I was able to continue cycling to San Diego without the least bit of discomfort or pain in that tendon, at all.  It works.

There is a caution that comes with the solution. The DMSO must be the highest pharmaceutical grade, 99% to 99.9 percent pure. It does cross the skin barrier and enter the bloodstream. Put it on your foot and later you can taste it in your mouth. It is possible it could transport some kind of microscopic pathogen from the surface of the skin into the bloodstream, like a virus. That is why the skin must be perfectly clean and sanitary before you use it. That is also why some people will not use DMSO. It is perfectly safe to use when used properly. In fact, you can drink a little of it with no harm to your insides. It is sometimes injected directly into the bloodstream, but that is a qualified medical procedure, and I would never do that. Not ever would I recommend that anyone else try doing that.

It works. It completely cured my achilles tendonitis over night. That problem with that tendon has not ever come back. 100% cured, never to reoccur.
 

[j1of1]

Westinghouse post offered a cure that worked, but really didn't address the underlying cause.  I concur with Iowagriz's posting. Achillles tendonitis is caused by having your seat/saddle too high which keep the foot flexed in a toe pointed down position which, in turn, causes constant contraction of the calf muscles and load on the tendon which leads to tendonitis. Lowering your saddle (and check to make sure your cleats aren't pushed all the way forward if using cleats) will help to even out the muscles you're using to pedal.

[BikeliciousBabe]

Westinghouse post offered a cure that worked, but really didn't address the underlying cause.  I concur with Iowagriz's posting. Achillles tendonitis is caused by having your seat/saddle too high which keep the foot flexed in a toe pointed down position which, in turn, causes constant contraction of the calf muscles and load on the tendon which leads to tendonitis. Lowering your saddle (and check to make sure your cleats aren't pushed all the way forward if using cleats) will help to even out the muscles you're using to pedal.

+2.  One of the years I flew with my bike to Cycle Oregon the tape I had put on the seat post to mark the height peeled off during transit.  When I re-assembled the bike, I had the seat too high.  The first day of riding featured some 82 miles with a lot of climbing compressed into the second half.  I ended up with a lot of pain by about the 3rd. day of riding.  Not fun.

[Westinghouse]

Westinghouse post offered a cure that worked, but really didn't address the underlying cause.  I concur with Iowagriz's posting. Achillles tendonitis is caused by having your seat/saddle too high which keep the foot flexed in a toe pointed down position which, in turn, causes constant contraction of the calf muscles and load on the tendon which leads to tendonitis. Lowering your saddle (and check to make sure your cleats aren't pushed all the way forward if using cleats) will help to even out the muscles you're using to pedal.

That being the case, it should have developed in both tendons. In any case, if saddle height is the problem, then the underlying cause is ignorance. There are not many solutions to that except learn before you go.