Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

105 km ride yesterday, woke up this morning with a sore left achilles. Any ideas?

Saddle too high...cleat too far forward.

It's weird because this is the first time it's happened. Thanks anyway TLL

I am not sure of the cause...could be a few things.But lowering your saddle and pulling your cleats further back on the shoe does take pressure off you achilles.

Number of things - if there was no local chafing or blistering (from heelcups) you might suspect it's tendonitis. Usually slow to get better, responds to rest, non-steriodals (ibuprofen)....

Looka at Wikipedia under enthesitis. There is a whole range of them - tennis elbow is probably the best known.

also make sure you stretch (lean forward against a wall while keeping foot flat on floor) after rides and don't mash monster gears unnecessarily (take off in a lower gear).

if its never happened before and i assume u must ride a bit, why adjust your seat height or pedals....??

sometimes !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! happens and you may have just strained your calf/achilles. since its not acute now ( ie after first 24hours) heat and stretch - low load, long duration stretching is best where theres an injury like this.

scotto wrote:if its never happened before and i assume u must ride a bit, why adjust your seat height or pedals....??

how did nick riewoldt tear his hamstring? he's been playing footy for years and it's never happened, so why would it happen this year? because s**t happens - it's wear and tear

toolonglegs wrote:I am not sure of the cause...could be a few things.But lowering your saddle and pulling your cleats further back on the shoe does take pressure off you achilles.

and puts the pressure somewhere else.... hello patello-femoral pain !

scotto i just noticed you are a sports physio so perhaps your diagnosis trumps my one of "s**t happens"

having said that, i had the same problem and was advised by my physio to lower the seat as well.

Chaderotti wrote:105 km ride yesterday, woke up this morning with a sore left achilles. Any ideas?

Is there any swelling or crepitus? If yes then it sounds like tendinosis, so you need to rest that sucker, apply plenty of ice and see a physio asap. I developed tendinosis on the GVBR last year and it took months to recover

i've had the same issue for over a year. my achilles exhibits crepitus (the cracking sound when you move it). resting helped for a little while but it returned soon after i started working it again. my physio said i just had to manage it with stretching and ice.

I got custom cycling shoes coming in, my current shoes are battered like all hell. So I'll just have to wait for those shoes to come in to get a good fit up.
Until then I'll take it easy

jules21 wrote:scotto i just noticed you are a sports physio so perhaps your diagnosis trumps my one of "s**t happens"

having said that, i had the same problem and was advised by my physio to lower the seat as well.

i'm not a big fan of changing things that have worked for ages just because of one little hiccup.
i have seen a lot of achilles injuries that are unrelated to sports, let alone cycling seat height.
if youve been riding a while and havent changed your set-up, we can assume its all pretty well OK. it makes no sense to change it (in the long-term) because of an injury that in all likelihood may be mostly unrelated. The best course of action in such cases is unfortunately a bit of rest from whatever aggrivates the pain, and a visit to your physio for some specific but simple exercises to force the bosy to repair the tissue damage, generally by way of what we call eccentric loading exercises.

anyway, i think your diagnosis of !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! happens is accurate !