Peroneal Tendonitis

Hey there,

Are you much in to stretching before or after your runs? I wasn't a big believer in the benefit of delaying my run for 10 minutes while I stood there loosening up and then adding 10 minutes at the end, when I could be upstairs in the shower.. That said, as I "age", I'm slowly becoming a believer in the power of the warm-up and cool-down stretch..

What sort of therapy did the doctor suggest and how did it feel after your run?

B

"if you run for yourself, you might let yourself down, but if you run for someone else, you'll never let them down..."

Good advice from "one who knows". I will only caution -- do NOT stretch before a run, but rather do a dynamic warm-up, putting your joints (and tendons) through gradually increasing range of motion. Stretch afterwards when you are hot.

You're probably OK to run on it while it is healing, BUT you really risk making it chronic and/or more serious if you continue running on trails. This injury is very similar to a sprained ankle, so every time you put your foot down on uneven terrain, you are risking blowing the whole thing again. You might be better off on the bike -- but also thinking about working out in the pool and also on a X-country ski machine, which will keep your foot straight and kind of rest the tendon.

I'd also recommend getting to a really experienced sports therapist of whatever type you relate to best, as you need an expert assessment of your biomechanics and your shoes to find out what "really" caused this. Have you changed shoes recently, or started training on a different surface? If you have suddenly started over-supinating for whatever reason, this would stress the tendon. And if you don't fix the unberlying cause, it'll be back!

As well as the more traditional treatment options, I always use a stack of anti-inflammatory herbs and enzymes and so on. I also get the area lasered, get myself muscle-tested to make sure the compensations I am am making are not screwing me up -- and get acupuncture; it speeds up healing.

You should be fine for August, but you do need to take it easy for now.

Good luck!!

OK, OK - perhaps I oversimplified the "stretching" routine I do before I run each day. It ends up looking more like a brief yoga session with breathing exercises, very slight stretching (obviously no jerking as such movement wreaks havoc on cold muscles). I use it more as a transition from "real life" to the first stride.

Excellent point about avoiding trails.

Can you give me some more details on the anti-inflammatory herbs? What sort of herbs do you use and how do you apply them?

Cheers!
Bobby

"if you run for yourself, you might let yourself down, but if you run for someone else, you'll never let them down..."

Thanks for your advice. As for the underlying cause, that's what has me pretty confused. On the run I first noticed this, I was wearing fairly new shoes, but they're the same kind (Montrail Hardrocks) that I've been wearing for a year now and I've always thought they were great. I was running my most common long run right by my house that I've been running for the last two years. It was a nice day and I felt good, so I pushed the pace harder than I had in a while and I think the laces were pulled a bit too tight, but other than that it was a very normal run for me.

I used to be very diligent about stretching, but I have been slacking off on my stretching for a while, so I'll try to start being good about it. My father, who's an orthopedic surgeon, always told me I had a neutral strike and neither pronated nor supinated, but that as a larger runner, I should wear mild anti-pronators anyway.

I'm also interested in what herbs you'd recommend. Thanks again for both of your advice, and a belated congratulations on winning the North Pole entry Bobby. I was disappointed it wasn't me, but they made an excellent selection in my opinion.

during my cross country season i had terriblt peroneal tendonitis. it was during my senior year of college, so i didn't want to quit running. it was so bad that i was limping the entire day and even during the first half mile of my runs until i warmed up. I didn't use superfeet, although i know they do work wonders for some people. i tried anti-inflamatories. i was popping ibuprofin all day long and it didn't do anything. Ice, ice, ice, ice, ice. that's what worked for me. i was icing it at least 5 times a day at that worked. ice and some rest will probably do the trick. even if you don't totally quit running, don't push it too hard for a week or so. hope you get better man