Shoe choice after achilles tendonitis..

After my year-long bout with tendonitis, I went with the Saucony Guide as my podiatrist wanted me in a stiffer shoe that the Kinvara. I started in the Guide 4 as I wanted the greater drop as I thought it would be easier on the tendon. The 4 had a 12mm drop. I am now in the Guide 5 which has the 8mm drop. It is not really a "minimal" shoe but I don't know that my achilles could handle a lesser shoe yet. Just food for thought.

I have pretty much the same story as you. Tried to switch to more "minimal" running shoes. I had some success. I was in minimal shoes for about 2 years and started to get achilles tendonitis, first on the right side, then on the left.

I looked back at my training log and found that the last shoe I was completely pain free in was the Brooks Adrenaline. So, I went back to the "traditional" Adrenaline and have been pain free ever since.

Malerunner wrote:

Probably friction with the heelcap of the shoe is the cause.

Whether or not this is the cause, I have never figured out what good high heel tabs and stiff heel counters on shoes do.

I've never had a foot slip out of a shoe and I'm sure these features cause more harm than good.

Hi,

thanks for the replies, good to hear some similar stories.

So it's possible that the problem are the minimal shoes, even after 2 years of succes in running with these shoes? Because I really liked the Kinvara's/virrata..

Would the Triumph 10 be a safe choice?

Thanks again!

I am not sure if that would be best or not. I guess the point of me telling you my story was that I broke the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" rule. I had a shoe that was working for me and I changed something to follow a trend and it got me injured. I am not saying minimal shoes are bad, they just didn't work for me.

Good Luck!

Malerunner wrote:

Hi all,

about two months ago, after 5k race, I got achilles tendonitis at the left side.

I have been running for about two years with the Saucony Kinvara. Last year I also started using the Virrata.

I trained 5-6 times a week, and one race/month.

I am back to running for about 3 weeks now, running in the cortana 3 (Saucony). But a week ago I started suffering from achilles tendonitis on the right side, much lower, almost at the heel this time. Probably friction with the heelcap of the shoe is the cause.

Long story short, I am looking for a good shoe with 8mm offset, with a minimal feel (forefoot strike), and without a stiff/high heelcap.

Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks a lot!

Run as if your shoes don't have a lot of grip. Rubber against pavement is a man-made combination that was designed to maximize grip. I have found over lots of years running barefoot on a lot of surfaces that natural surfaces just don't permit the kind of "push-off" running that you can do on pavement - either because it's painful (gravel) or because the grip just isn't there (dirt, mud, grass). First figure out out to run well without that grip. It will take a lot of stress off of your calf/Achilles/ankle.

Malerunner wrote:

Hi all,

about two months ago, after 5k race, I got achilles tendonitis at the left side.

I have been running for about two years with the Saucony Kinvara. Last year I also started using the Virrata.

I trained 5-6 times a week, and one race/month.

I am back to running for about 3 weeks now, running in the cortana 3 (Saucony). But a week ago I started suffering from achilles tendonitis on the right side, much lower, almost at the heel this time. Probably friction with the heelcap of the shoe is the cause.

Long story short, I am looking for a good shoe with 8mm offset, with a minimal feel (forefoot strike), and without a stiff/high heelcap.

Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks a lot!

I would think that you would want something with a 10 to 12 mm offset so that you don't have to stress your achilles as much with every push off. the lower the heel compared with the toe, the more force you need to get from your heel to your toe.

Skooled wrote:

I would think that you would want something with a 10 to 12 mm offset so that you don't have to stress your achilles as much with every push off. the lower the heel compared with the toe, the more force you need to get from your heel to your toe.

or alternatively, get more nice grippy rubber soled shoes that allow you to push off to your heart's content as long as you don't mind ripping your poor calf in two. Hell, get some spikes and claw your way to good times. There are plenty of surgeons who'd love to make some money operating on you, PTs to give you silly exercises, etc.

This happened to me: I was running just fine for a few years and switched to a shoe with a much lower heel drop. It felt great for a few months, but I ended up with serious and long-lasting achilles issues. I switched back to my cushy Asics Gel-Nimbus shoes, and that's allowed me to ramp my miles back up with much more cooperation from my Achilles.

Don't be blind to the possibility that minimal shoes aren't going to work out for you. And don't mess around with Achilles injuries.

happened to me wrote:

Don't be blind to the possibility that minimal shoes aren't going to work out for you. And don't mess around with Achilles injuries.

I agree. I tried running with a minimal fanny-pack and I got really thirsty. So it's back to the big fanny-pack for me!

The people at the running store were very nice. They helped me find just the right fanny pack for my fat-ass.

Thanks again!

It is just difficult to believe that after 2 years of good running with Kinvara's/Virrata's these shoes are probably not the right ones for me.

One of the days I will go to the running center and let them check my running form and buy me a pair of higher drop shoes

I had a pair of transitional shoes after my bout with AT. I used (don't laugh) the Spira shoes because they are extremely cushiony and have a high heel drop. I used them for a month or two and then started gradually working in my Brooks Adrenaline. Minimalist didn't work for me.

Hi,

short update:

I went to two different running centers to analyse my running form and gain some information. I seemed to be a normal runner, no overpronation etc... Running with a forefoot strike.

Both shops were very sceptical against the new hype about forefoot landing and low heel drops.. Especially the risk at achilles problems seems high when running with a forefootlanding.

I got me some thin heel lifts in the Cortana 3, and went for a run. During this run I really focused on midfoot landing, and maked sure my heels at least touched the ground.

The first km's this felt really strange, I have been running on my forefoots for 2 years, but after a few km's at became more and more natural.

This felt really much much better at my inflamed achilles.

Only short turns and accelerations were still painfull.

However, I think the forefootlanding is the cause of my achilles problems. I gonna try a few more runs with the elevated heels and the midfootlanding, and if this goes fine start looking for a light shoe with higher heel drop.

So what you are telling us is you have been running incorrectly for the past couple of years? Don't blame the shoes. Vivo have some good educational videos. Letting the heel come down is kinda key. Better to sort your form than bounce between shoes picking up different injuries as you go. Good luck.

Indeed, I think my biggest mistake was running too much on my forefoot, so my heel doesn't even touched the ground while running. This seems to put a lot of stress on the achilles.