Achilles Tendon pain

[Hofhunter]

Anyone experience Achilles tendon pain while hunting with your boots? See if anyone out there has any helpful tips or how they dealt with the issue. It feels fine with normal day walking/working. But once I put my hunting boots on and start walking it starts to hurt.

Thanks for any tips/help.

 

[colby12]

How different are your boots from normal shoes that don’t cause pain? If they are different enough to cause you to have a different gait and put more strain on your calves it could cause pain. If you must use those boots spend a fair amount of time stretching your calves and midsole in the morning and then throughout the day. Trying a different lacing pattern could help as well.

 

[Marbles]

If the boot heel cup presses on the tendon, that can cause damage to the tendon. If there is pressure, trash the boots.

Think about what you do different in the boots, perhaps it is the activity and not the footwear.

Where does it hurt on the tendon? Pain down close to the ankle or up higher?

Stretching, despite what we have all been told for years, doesn't help tendons. Tendons like slow, heavy loading. For the Achilles heavy calf raises are the fix with a slow lowering phase.

If the pain is high in the tendon, then full range of motion, dropping the heel below the level of the toes. Such as standard on the edge of a step

If the pain is near the ankle bone, dropping the heel below the toes compresses the injured area and is bad. So calf raises on a flat surface.

I worked through some left distal Achilles tendinitis this year. Still doing heavy calf raises to keep it away, and avoid resting the back of my heals on hard surfaces.

 

[flyfisher117]

I am still working through it, 2 years later and not sure it’s getting better.
My boots don’t bother it but I have found some shoes absolutely do bother it. If they do I get rid of them.

Lots of stretches before during and after hikes. Stretches every morning and evening. Specific days in the gym just working on stretching and strengthening some of those smaller leg muscles.

 

[100percent]

Wearing ankle socks or no shows any time creates a problem for me sometimes!

 

[Whaledriver]

Most likely stiffer boots put more stress on the Achilles with foot postion, most likely climbing. I wore my Lowa Tibets one season and my Achilles looked like I had a golf ball in it. A year later I ruptured it (playing basketball) not hunting.

Bottom line is Achilles issues are almost always a weak calf muscle. The calf muscle is the only shock absorber. High arches can be an issue too, so make sure you are using good inserts. Last but not least could be rubbing over the Achilles by foot position in the boot.

Good luck!

 

[Skerhunter]

I have fought this battle a few times now, not fun! It could simply be those boots and how you are using them or an actual injury (probably both).

I have found a few things that irritate mine - old age, lots of walking on “flat land” with stiff boots and running too frequently.

This is the first year I have been pain free! What has helped me the most is dialing back activities that make it tight and more frequent heavy calf raises. I don’t wear stiff boots for hunting around the house anymore, just when I will be in steep terrain. For work outs this year I did longer 4+ mile runs a few times per week vs shorter daily runs. I don’t do long rucks anymore, just a couple miles a few times per week before my trips. The second I feel it get tight I do heavy calf raises!

 

[Hofhunter]

If the boot heel cup presses on the tendon, that can cause damage to the tendon. If there is pressure, trash the boots.

Think about what you do different in the boots, perhaps it is the activity and not the footwear.

Where does it hurt on the tendon? Pain down close to the ankle or up higher?

Stretching, despite what we have all been told for years, doesn't help tendons. Tendons like slow, heavy loading. For the Achilles heavy calf raises are the fix with a slow lowering phase.

If the pain is high in the tendon, then full range of motion, dropping the heel below the level of the toes. Such as standard on the edge of a step

If the pain is near the ankle bone, dropping the heel below the toes compresses the injured area and is bad. So calf raises on a flat surface.

I worked through some left distal Achilles tendinitis this year. Still doing heavy calf raises to keep it away, and avoid resting the back of my heals on hard surfaces.

Like all this. Does feel like there is some pressure from the boot on the tendon. I’d say it’s closer to the ankle bone so definitely will be doing those exercises in my routines.

Do you think a taller boot is better in your experience?

 

[Hofhunter]

How different are your boots from normal shoes that don’t cause pain? If they are different enough to cause you to have a different gait and put more strain on your calves it could cause pain. If you must use those boots spend a fair amount of time stretching your calves and midsole in the morning and then throughout the day. Trying a different lacing pattern could help as well.

Only hurts with my boots and just normal everyday walking shoes nothing at all. So like someone said wonder if the boot is putting to much pressure on the tendon.

Walking uphill seems to irritate it the most when I’m hunting.

Any lacing patterns would you recommend.

 

[Marbles]

Like all this. Does feel like there is some pressure from the boot on the tendon. I’d say it’s closer to the ankle bone so definitely will be doing those exercises in my routines.

Do you think a taller boot is better in your experience?

No, my guess is its a matter of how the heel cup is shaped and height of the boot has no effect.

Notice the word guess. My understanding is things like pushing the bar of a rolling office chair against ones heels can cause tendon issues over time.

I think mine gets worse if I rest my bare feet on the coffee table with my toes pointing up. I've not played with doing it enough to be certain, but I have noticed it enough that I avoid it.

So, it makes sense to me that a heel cup that presses on the back of the ankle could cause problems.

Of course, it could be some other structure overlaying the Achilles that is actually hurting. Particularly if it comes and goes quickly.

 

[colby12]

Only hurts with my boots and just normal everyday walking shoes nothing at all. So like someone said wonder if the boot is putting to much pressure on the tendon.

Walking uphill seems to irritate it the most when I’m hunting.

Any lacing patterns would you recommend.

I had similar things with high, stiff boots. Oddly, the one pair of crispis I tried were terrible which weren’t high.

Lacing wise, I just googled and tried a few. The one I did try that seemed to help was on schnees boots. I skipped the cross cross around the front of the foot and ankle to reduce pressure.

 

[Pramo]

Been dealing with this and figured was a new pain from age but turns out is was my crispi Nevada and Laponnia I wore for two seasons. Never gave me a blister or foot issues but awful achilles pain from pressure where the ankle of the boot rubbed. Tried a pair of tall boots and pain is 90% gone away in two months

 

[Frozenlead]

Just my experience here. I had surgery to repair a complete rupture on my Achilles, so my tendon is twice the size near the ankle area.

- I’ve found that boots around the 6” height seem to cause a pressure point on the ankle/tendon area when flexing. Regular shoes or higher boots seem to work best.

- stiffer boots are horrible, hockey skates are a nightmare.

- heel height/ position makes a big difference, I try to pay attention when trying on new boots and have learned that if they feel much different position wise from my everyday shoes or work boots they will create issues (flatter/lower heel positioning works best for me)

- lacing techniques might help some, but for me it’s just a way of compensating for the flex issues in the boot.

It’s taken me a bunch of trial and error. I try to stick to the same footwear once I find something that works. I have unfortunately donated many pairs of near new boots and shoes to the local thrift stores over the years.

 

[Hofhunter]

I had similar things with high, stiff boots. Oddly, the one pair of crispis I tried were terrible which weren’t high.

Lacing wise, I just googled and tried a few. The one I did try that seemed to help was on schnees boots. I skipped the cross cross around the front of the foot and ankle to reduce pressure.

My current boot I had a little bit of rubbing but no pressure. But on this trip the pressure on the tendon caused some major pain and swelling. I tried on some other brands and didn’t notice the same pressure. Obviously walking around in the store is different than on a hunt. I don’t know if I just had a really tight calf that day or what but something was off.

Just trying to take in all these ideas from you guys and look down multiple avenues.

 

[Hofhunter]

You might want to look at boots with a softer top to the heel collar, that’s made a difference for me. The Salomon quest has a soft collar, for example.

Is the heel to toe drop similar in your boots and shoes that don’t cause issues?

Definitely will take that into consideration.

They do have similar heel to toe drop.

 

[dpitt]

I have battled achilles/heel pain for a couple years. Decided to see a podiatrist and was diagnosed with Haglund's Deformity. Essentially it is a enlarged heel bone which causes pain where the achilles attaches to the heel bone. For me, it would get extremely irritated with stiff boots hiking uphill. My podiatrist recommended heel wedges and they have helped a ton. They change the angle at which achilles/heel bone meet and reduce the contact that location makes with the heel counter in a boot. Not sure if this is exactly the same condition you have but may be worth a quick google search to see if your symptoms match. The podiatrist said the only real solution for me was surgery and I would like to avoid that if I can so I have been trying other options before going down that route.

 

[RAM190Hog]

I had partial tear of both achilles very low while taking a course of Cipro when I went for a run. Had no idea there was a black box warning on that medication when I was prescribed it.

Anyway, both of my tendons have a scar tissue bump/bulge that gets pretty tender, and it especially annoyed by pressure from a boot on it. I find that boots that have a deep heel cup are usually worse. I have tried some Scarpas in particular that I would otherwise love, but the deep heel cup and back puts a lot of pressure on my achilles.

For me, I have found boots like La Sportive and Salewa have a soft shell type of material in the back of the upper help a lot. Unfortunately, a lot of them aren't super durable for mountain hunting. I have done pretty good in the Crispi Briksdal as well.

As Marbles has said,strengthening those tendons does help. They also spent a fair amount of time scraping mine (the name of this therapy escapes me right now).

I would suggest seeing a sports medicine doc and/or physical therapist for more info on exercises and stuff that may help.

 

[ProRoad]

I had some really nice Merrell boots that fit great and I really loved them. One year I was shooting video of a Pro bicycle race in the Netherlands and strained my achilles. I was crippled for a few weeks and it really took a long time for me to walk properly. Some areas heal really slowly and this is one of them. I would be careful and find another boot and start slow.

 

[Hofhunter]

I had partial tear of both achilles very low while taking a course of Cipro when I went for a run. Had no idea there was a black box warning on that medication when I was prescribed it.

Anyway, both of my tendons have a scar tissue bump/bulge that gets pretty tender, and it especially annoyed by pressure from a boot on it. I find that boots that have a deep heel cup are usually worse. I have tried some Scarpas in particular that I would otherwise love, but the deep heel cup and back puts a lot of pressure on my achilles.

For me, I have found boots like La Sportive and Salewa have a soft shell type of material in the back of the upper help a lot. Unfortunately, a lot of them aren't super durable for mountain hunting. I have done pretty good in the Crispi Briksdal as well.

As Marbles has said,strengthening those tendons does help. They also spent a fair amount of time scraping mine (the name of this therapy escapes me right now).

I would suggest seeing a sports medicine doc and/or physical therapist for more info on exercises and stuff that may help.

I actually just boot some Briksdal so I’m glad it is one you have had success with. And definitely will seek out sports medicine. I felt like I stretched it enough and making it stronger for the years but maybe not enough. Major focus this off season.