Achilles safety and low-rise socks?

[ollinger]

I've wondered if temperature, and by implication low-rise socks that don't keep the achilles tendon as warm as high-rise, might be a risk factor in achilles injury. I found a study from Hadassah Hospital in Israel about ten years ago that looked at 1400 military subjects, concluding that achilles tendonopathy was about three times more prevalent when exercising in colder temperatures. The authors hypothesize that cooler temperatures increase the viscosity in the tendon sheath, increasing risk of inflammation. Two guys I know personally sustained achilles rupture in the past two years, both in February in poorly heated tennis facilities, both with low rise socks. How important is all this? Don't know. But I would think higher rise socks do a better job of keeping the tendon warm, and I've stopped wearing the low-rise.

 

[Chas Tennis]

Warmth helps and calves may be tighter in the winter. ?

Warm socks should help.

I had have had two knee injuries. In discussion with my Dr, who operated on my knee and is also a professor of orthopedics, I asked him whether elastic knee braces - the 1/4" thick elastic sponge type - could really be useful for knee injuries. I mentioned that the forces inside the knee were large so how could some elastic on the outside affect what was happening inside. He said that at their weekly meetings they had discussed that issue several times. There was no consensus. However, they all agreed that the warming effect of the sponge insulation was a considerable plus.

Also, for exercise the current preparation is always to warm up. My friends are not serious about warming up and, for example, often start serve 'first in' with no warm up of the serving muscles. How well did your friends warm up?

Another reason why people may have more Achilles injuries in the winter is life style. In the winter people are less active and spend more hours of the week with their calves in a shortened state. They spend 120 hours working at a desk, watching TV and sleeping, all with pointed toes and therefore shortened calves. Then they play tennis 2-4 hours a week. In the summer there is more tennis and outside walking, etc. It is easy to see why -without a stretching program - some might get Achilles injuries and also plantar fasciitis (PF is why I learned about tight calves).

My opinion of life style and tight calves/Achilles Injuries is detailed in reply #16 of

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=377773

 

[ollinger]

Your point about lifestyle being different in winter is noted, but is taken into account by the study I cited. They looked at an active duty military population whose lifestyles and activity levels really did not vary in the course of the year, and still found a three-fold increase in tendonopathy in the colder months. For we non-soldier types, less activity in the winter could certainly compound the risk even further.