Achilles Tendonitis

G

GTfan

Well known member
Hello:

I (36M) run and lift weights pretty regularly. I also live a pretty active life overall. For the better part of 6 months or so probably I have had a constant nagging pain in my left achilles. It's not bad enough to be debilitating or anything, but just enough to be annoying.

I have had a history with achilles stuff. I used to have terrible running form (running on my toes) and I caused some pretty bad tendon pain a few years back, but once I rested and corrected my form, the pain went away. This seemed to be mostly due to the bad running form, because the pain was acute and went away after a few weeks of rest.

This one has been more chronic, and although my running load has been much reduced this year, it has been still nagging me. I've started doing "backwards walking" and " heel drop" stretches to help.

But being a TMS knower I have also noticed some other mind-body connections lately. Although, I have had a nagging issue for months, I have noticed that the pain has gotten worse this week suddenly.

Here's what's going on this week that I have linked it to:
-I just started my first week of official training for a half marathon
-I have a skiing trip coming up in two weeks that I have been looking forward to for months
-Me and my wife just got some distressing news about our baby she is pregnant with. The baby will likely develop cystic fibrosis based on our genetic testing
-I was testing out Claude AI chat the other night and asked it for some advice on chronic achilles tendonitis, and of course it got me with the "if you don't rest it could RUPTURE!", so the pain has gotten worse since then lol

Anyway, it seems like it's at least mostly a TMS thing, but wanted to get some advice here before I talk myself into going to PT lol
 
Sarno said tendonitis was certainly TMS. I'm a fellow runner and dealing with it in my shin right now. I've definitely noticed my most painful days tie with high stress levels at home or work.

I'm sorry to hear about your baby but you all can get through however it turns out! There has been so much done for CF now as far as treatment advances.

Funny enough with AI, you can lead it. Gemini was telling me I definitely had a stress fracture, but once I started talking about a belief in TMS, it went in that direction. Don't lean on it too much!
 
Rusty Red said:
Sarno said tendonitis was certainly TMS. I'm a fellow runner and dealing with it in my shin right now. I've definitely noticed my most painful days tie with high stress levels at home or work.

I'm sorry to hear about your baby but you all can get through however it turns out! There has been so much done for CF now as far as treatment advances.

Funny enough with AI, you can lead it. Gemini was telling me I definitely had a stress fracture, but once I started talking about a belief in TMS, it went in that direction. Don't lean on it too much!
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Lol yeah the AI is programmed to be that way, I try not to rely on it too much, but i just found it funny that I think reading that one sentence caused me to get an uptick in pain
 
GTfan said:
Lol yeah the AI is programmed to be that way, I try not to rely on it too much, but i just found it funny that I think reading that one sentence caused me to get an uptick in pain
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Yep, I mentioned my shin has always been tender to press in multiple places and it was like MULTIPLE STRESS FRACTURES. SHUT IT DOWN.
 
Achilles tendonitis back with a vengeance! I took a pretty bad fall last night while refereeing a football game and fell on my hand. I thought for sure it was broken, and went throw some serious spiraling because I was really looking forward to this football season.

Luckily, I only ruptured a vein in my hand. Nothing was broken which was a huge relief. Meanwhile my achilles pain has ramped up suddenly today really bad. It was creeping up the last few weeks but it's really bad today. I'm sure it's related to all the stress from the injury
 
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The pain has gotten really bad now. My hand injury is on the mend and now I've got foot pain lol. I'm 90 percent sure it's TMS since I have a history of Achilles Tendonitis and it usually goes away on its own without any treatment.

I've been stressed lately, because football season is cranking up and it's my first season refereeing college football so I know I'm putting enormous pressure on myself to not get hurt and to do a good job.

Also work has me stressed lately for various reasons related to money, and I also have a 2 month old baby at home to add to the mix. So yeah, my guess is that my brain is using the Achilles pain as an outlet and distraction for all the shit I have going on.

It's not even swollen or anything, just pain.

Any advice on how to deal with it would be awesome. I am working through the pain, just continuing to do my football stuff, workout, and run. It's really just a pain tolerance thing that I'm toughing it out on, but I do find myself doom spiraling over it (I'm gonna get hurt and not be able to do football, etc) which we all know is TMS related thought patterns
 
GTfan said:
It's not even swollen or anything, just pain.

Any advice on how to deal with it would be awesome.
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The best practice is to use a form of mindfulness sometimes called somatic experiencing, to deal with the pain. In this method you just feel the sensations but without using your mind to interpret them as something bad. They're just sensations. It can help to give them a color, a form etc and focus on that. For example, this feels like an orange, pulsating, sensation that is hot. This one is dull and cold and dark. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.
 
Ellen said:
The best practice is to use a form of mindfulness sometimes called somatic experiencing, to deal with the pain. In this method you just feel the sensations but without using your mind to interpret them as something bad. They're just sensations. It can help to give them a color, a form etc and focus on that. For example, this feels like an orange, pulsating, sensation that is hot. This one is dull and cold and dark. Give it a try and let us know how it goes.
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Thank you, this has been really helpful! Everytime I feel a sensation in my ankle, I've started assigning it as a "blue tingling sensation" now instead of the usual "oh shit here comes the pain".

Eliminating the fear of the pain seems to be the key. I've put so much pressure on myself to be perfect this year for football season that the ankle sensations have become a fixation and an intense fear that turns into "pain". I can't get hurt because all my hopes and dreams will be lost. One twinge in my ankle turns into a doom spiral to "I'm hurt and out for the season".

I've also used this time to try to focus on my family and other things I have going on in life too. My life isn't over if I miss a season of football. But I'm sure you all know how perfectionism and fixation on goals go hand and hand with TMS.
 
GTfan said:
Thank you, this has been really helpful! Everytime I feel a sensation in my ankle, I've started assigning it as a "blue tingling sensation" now instead of the usual "oh shit here comes the pain".

Eliminating the fear of the pain seems to be the key. I've put so much pressure on myself to be perfect this year for football season that the ankle sensations have become a fixation and an intense fear that turns into "pain". I can't get hurt because all my hopes and dreams will be lost. One twinge in my ankle turns into a doom spiral to "I'm hurt and out for the season".

I've also used this time to try to focus on my family and other things I have going on in life too. My life isn't over if I miss a season of football. But I'm sure you all know how perfectionism and fixation on goals go hand and hand with TMS.
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That makes complete sense and I think you're looking at it perfectly! :) The self-pressure increases the fear which fuels the symptoms.
 
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