Brace for achilles tendonitis - experience?

I've had achilles tendonitis for years, one side had gotten really bad, very painful. I saw an orthopedist last week and he told me to wear a leg brace thing for 6 weeks and it should heal.

I'm wondering is anyone else has experience with a brace like this for the same problem.

I tried it out this morning. It's a soft padding that velcroes around my leg from foot to below knee. Then a hard shoe and soft leg piece that straps over the padding. The idea is it immobilizes my ankle, giving the achilles tendon a chance to heal.

My achilles tendon is sore to the touch, and I am finding that the pressure of this brace is very painful. It isn't direct pressure on the tendon but still it is snug and causing the throbbing pain that has been my main problem without the brace.

I'm going to give it a few hours and if it gets awful I'll take it off and call next week for advice, but I'm wondering if anyone else has been through this.

Thanks! Erica

Hi Erica,
Oh that is not a fun injury, I had a similar problem with both of my achilles back in HS, right before I was suppose to compete in all state track. However, it came down to run the race, with the likelyhood that I wouldn't finish race, and would probably collapse right on the track, by tearing both of my achilles. So ofcourse after much debate, and a few tears, I decided not to run. However, I did use a tape to wrap both of my achilles during practice. The tape is a little unconfortable but it does stabelize the area. You might want consider using a cloth wrap. It does go away if you are careful and stop whatever exercise routine that got you there in the first place. I also iced to bring down the inflammation, which also helped. Also not for my achilles injury but for my IT band injury, I was taking two advils, three times a day, for a week. That seems to help alot of the runners with suffer from similar inflammations. However, that was back in 2000, when I was training for a marathon, way before I was diagnosed with ITP in 2008. So my advice is consult your doctor, figure out what you can take to lower the inflammation and it should help you with your achilles and to ice for 10 - 20 minutes a couple of times a day. Oh and about icying use a towel to cover your skin, if you leave ice on your skin too long you might get an ice burn.
Michel

Thanks Michel. The sad thing is I didn't get it from any injury or sport, just from daily low energy normal walking around. I think I have a bad infrastructure. I also have ITBS from walking around, and I don't mean race walking or fitness walking. And I can't take advil, allergic to all the nsaids. But the ice is good advice for me, I should be doing that and it's just inconvenient and I don't.

After a couple of hours the brace was pretty comfortable or at least not painful so I'm going to try to wear it as much as I can. I haven't decided if I'll wear it to work or not. I can't drive in it - apparently that's illegal but also pretty impossible. Also it makes my OTHER less injured achilles tendon hurt when I walk around in the brace. What a mess. The doctor said wear it for six weeks, all the time except for sleeping and showering (and driving).

Erica

I have achilles tendonitis from wearing trainers all the time. I think you call them sneakers or something, anyway sports shoes. My GP said to wear shoes with a lower back but I haven't as I find that most shoes rub my toes and I can't wear them for too long. Someone suggested getting a heel insert to raise the foot. I haven't tried it yet but plan to.

Erica,

One more thing, make sure you have the right type of show for the type of activity you are doing. You can easily get injured if are not wearing the right type of shoe or if the shoe is worn out. This doesn't mean you have to out and buy overprices shoes, but you should have a pair that supports you while you walk. You'll find most women runners prefer Asics or New Balance. These are good dependable brands and meant to be used to exercise. There are other great brands out there but it takes trial and error finding a good fit. Unfortunately, the one brand I've been dissapointed with in the past is Nike. My opinion is that their shoes are stylish, but they are not made to be used for exercise.

Ann, I only wear backless shoes, clogs. Brands like Dansko or the ones I recently discovered, Klogs, or Keen has some nice ones. Also only shoes that aren't flat, so they have a 1-2" heel. These brands have generous toe boxes too.

Michel, I don't do any activity except try to get from place to place with minimal pain. My problems are not from a sports injury.
Erica

hi Erica,

Sorry for the confusion, let me try again to clarify. What I meant was that regarless of what you are doing now, you did something awhile back that got you to this point. And whatever you were doing, (simply walking) combined with the type of shoe you were wearing might have played in role in the injury. For example, wearing flip flops affects the foot of your arch. If you wear flip flops day in and day out, you may develop arch problems. I guess the logic is that when you were these type of shoes, your toes tend to scrunch up to hold on to the shoe, and that muscle strain over a long period of time, cause foot problems. I got this from a foot doctor when I had planter facitis. He also said same thing applies to birkenstocks, our toes tend to grab on to the shoe by scrunching, and that lead to other strains. Hope this makes sense.