Pain between ankle and heel.

[Mr.Lob]

I haven't read anything, in this forum, similar to this issue I'm having. And Google search wasn't really that helpful, so maybe one of you have gone thru something similar and can shed a little light on the subject.

I've been doing calf stretches for the past couple of years, to deal with Achilles tendinitis. The heels were really sore in the morning. After walking on them for awhile they'd usually loosen up. The stretching has really helped. The past couple of days I've awaken with pain in the outside ankle on right foot. Does not hurt unless I am moving the foot upwards. The pain is right below the ankle, and extends about an inch towards the heel, but neither the ankle nor heel feel directly involved. No pain if pressing directly on bone or muscle. After walking around for awhile the soreness slowly dissipates.If I sit or lay down for a lengthy period of time, soreness returns.

This sounds very similar to the tendinitis I've had with my heels. You really cant stretch an ankle though. Anyone ever hear of anything similar? As of now I'm not treating with anything. Probably ice and ibuprofen starting tomorrow. If it continues to be a problem, would an orthopedic surgeon, or a podiatrist be better to see?

My guess right now would be I probably strained something while doing my calf stretches. Would be doctors... what is your diagnosis?

 

[RogueFLIP]

If I'm following your description correctly of the pain between the ankle and heel, you're talking about the location of your ankle everter tendons. So you might have pain there, but direct palpation to the area might not produce pain as the muscle belly is higher up on the leg.

You got some ligaments in that area that could be strained, some of the ankle bursas could be inflamed, could be something like a rear foot joint that's stuck and needs to be mobilized.

If it doesn't go away or improve in a few days, go see a podiatrist or a physical therapist.

"You really can't stretch an ankle though" - you mean right now in your acute condition or in general? Bc in your acute condition, yeah I'd probably take it easy on the stretching until you get a clearer idea of what's going on. But if you mean in general, no that's not true at all.

Good luck.

 

[Mr.Lob]

"You really can't stretch an ankle though" - you mean right now in your acute condition or in general? Bc in your acute condition, yeah I'd probably take it easy on the stretching until you get a clearer idea of what's going on. But if you mean in general, no that's not true at all.

Good luck.

Well, yeah, I meant in general. To keep this condition from reoccuring what type of exercises or stretching could be done?

 

[RogueFLIP]

Couple things to think about:

Reducing soft tissue restrictions that have developed over time. A lot of the time, you won't be able to just stretch things out. You or someone else will need to identify and break up these restrictions which can easily compress and put pressure on pain sensitive areas, weaken muscles, misalign bones, etc.

Stretching longer and gentler. Esp the gastroc region, lot of slow twitch muscle fibers, highly resistant to change, so I always recommend holding calf stretches (and stretches in general) particularly for rehab purposes for a minimum of 5 minutes. Less intensity, longer duration. So no need to take the stretch to end range, once you feel a comfortable stretch that you can relax into, that's where you can hold it. As long as you don't force anything, you won't injure yourself.

Stretching properly. The two main muscles of calf, the gastroc and soleus can be stretched two different ways. When you do a stretch with the knee bent, you isolate the soleus more....you can Youtube videos for clarity.

Stretch the antagonist muscle. Might not be something that seems logical, but stretching the anterior tib may help loosen up the calf as well. Again, refer to Youtube.

Misalignments of the lower extremity and pelvis. For example, if you have some tightness or pressure in the front of your body shifting your center of gravity forward, your back (posterior) part of your body will need to contract to compensate or else you'd fall flat on your face. So if you're always tight/weak in your hamstrings/calves despite exercise/stretching, that's something to look into.

 

[Mr.Lob]

Couple things to think about:

Reducing soft tissue restrictions that have developed over time. A lot of the time, you won't be able to just stretch things out. You or someone else will need to identify and break up these restrictions which can easily compress and put pressure on pain sensitive areas, weaken muscles, misalign bones, etc.

Stretching longer and gentler. Esp the gastroc region, lot of slow twitch muscle fibers, highly resistant to change, so I always recommend holding calf stretches (and stretches in general) particularly for rehab purposes for a minimum of 5 minutes. Less intensity, longer duration. So no need to take the stretch to end range, once you feel a comfortable stretch that you can relax into, that's where you can hold it. As long as you don't force anything, you won't injure yourself.

Stretching properly. The two main muscles of calf, the gastroc and soleus can be stretched two different ways. When you do a stretch with the knee bent, you isolate the soleus more....you can Youtube videos for clarity.

Stretch the antagonist muscle. Might not be something that seems logical, but stretching the anterior tib may help loosen up the calf as well. Again, refer to Youtube.

Misalignments of the lower extremity and pelvis. For example, if you have some tightness or pressure in the front of your body shifting your center of gravity forward, your back (posterior) part of your body will need to contract to compensate or else you'd fall flat on your face. So if you're always tight/weak in your hamstrings/calves despite exercise/stretching, that's something to look into.

Thanks for your comments. I do the calf stretches with leg straight AND bent. But as you suggested, I may have been a little too aggressive at times with my stretches, and need to go with a softer and longer stretch. Currently Ill hold a stretch anywhere from 20 seconds to a minute. Also, whenever sitting on my recliner watching t.v, I'll pull the top of my foot up towards my knee, and hold for about 30 seconds. This stretches calves and heels pretty gently.

When standing I have a foam wedge I use for stretching. Probably went a bit overboard the past couple of weeks. Oddly when I woke up this morning there was no pain. The only possible explanation I can think of, is I kept my feet over the edge of the bed in a flexed, not so relaxed position. Anyhow, thanks again. I'll check out YouTube for more ideas.