Achilles tendonitis is a common medical condition, which is caused by tendons inflammation. Tendons are flexible bands of tissue which connects muscles and bones. Tendonitis occurs due to the repetitive injury of one particular area. This is supposed to happen more or often with aging since the body tends to become less flexible with age and hence becomes prone to more and more injuries.

Achilles tendonitis can even be caused by thyroid disease, infection, gout, diabetes and arthritis. Tendonitis is more often felt in wrists, knees, ankles, hips, elbows and shoulders. Tendonitis even affects those people who are found to perform repetitive motions or place high stress on joints. Athletes, dentists, musicians, gardeners and carpenters are usually at high risk for tendonitis.

Tendonitis come associated with sport where repetitive motion causes it. For instance, swimmer's shoulder, golfer's elbow and tennis elbow. The rotator cuff tendonitis grounds pain in the upper arm as well as in shoulder. The jumper's knee is known as the knee tendonitis. And the most common type of tendonitis takes place in tendon that connects the muscle in calf to back of heel. This is what is known as Achilles tendonitis. Each of them affects a diverse tendon in the human body.

Achilles tendon is actually the point of connecting calf muscles to heel. Its major role is for the plantar flexion of feet such as pushing off during running. The tendon may become inflamed as a consequence of persistent stress or some medical condition like gout. Although the relatively common condition among the runners, it may also occur in other sports like gymnastics and jumping.

Causes

Tendons inflammation takes place due to excessive stress or due to deposition of the uric acid as in gouty arthritis.

Symptoms

• Throbbing pain when ankle bends upwards.
• Swollen tendon with tenderness and warmth.
• Stiffness of achilles tendon, which result in toe tough gait or inability to stand up on the tiptoe with affected toe.

What to do

• Use ice compress. It can help to ease out the pain.
• Give rest to the affected ankle in elevated position.
• Check your doctor for appropriate Achilles tendonitis treatment
• Add some heal pads to both the shoes to reduce stress on tendon.
• Avoid the weight bearing for weeks or days depending on severity. Use some crutches to help relieve the stress of affected joint. As and when symptoms seems to resolve, the normal activities can resume gradually.

Few essential tips

• If you want to avoid a painful condition like Achilles tendonitis, you can take resort to proper strengthening and stretching exercises prior to any sort of sport.

• Push wall method can be particularly helpful in this aspect as it actually stretches Achilles tendon.

• The gradual increase in intensity as well as duration of the training needs to be taken into account by sports men.

• You should consult your doctor if you tend to feel that persistent pain over heels after any sort of high impact exercise.

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