overtaking haynes

When you are to the point of tenedonitis stretching won't do much. Deep tissue massage, myofacial release, or the scraping (I think this is the best for tendonitis but I am sure Haynes will disagree) that I metioned before will help. Also when it is a chronic issue I always use a ice/heat alternating. About 5-7 mins of both 2-3 times a couple times a day.

A cortisone injection is the best, but that takes usually two doctors visits. First they usually give you prescription ibuprofen (that admittedly is like 8x the normal dose, but is the same stuff). Then if the problem continues they might give you some steroids which will do the job for any inflammation. I know you don't like taking pills or anything unnatural but try taking 400-600mg 3 times per day (thats 2-3 pills 3/day) along with the icing and stretching.

Quick fix to cover up the problem, but doesn't solve the issue. I don't agree with coritsone but think the Ib will help with inflamation. But you still have to get to the root of the problem.

Often inflammation is the effective root of the problem. Yes there was an initial injury, but inflammation can build on itself because it causes damage of its own and then more inflammation occurs in an attempt to fix that. If the inflammation is wiped out (and corticosteroids are the strongest known antiinflammatory) then it will often solve the problem. But it is a moot point because bedoukian isn't gonna go to a doctor twice unless this gets much worse. Can't wait till im a doctor and can prescribe meds for friends (not ones that they shouldn't have, but just save them the trouble of going to a doctor multiple times).

I have read that corticosteroids can break down tissue and cause more damage than is already there. I don't know if this is true but the people I know that have gone that route have temporary relief followed by an even worse injury than they started with. Everyones out come is differant, but I have really never seen any one heal from a cort. shot.

In my experience injuries are caused my a restiction in the facia that surrounds the muscle and cause either tearing in the muscle or to much tention on a tendon. You have to fix that facial restriction for the problem to go away. But of course this is only from the mouth of a massage therapist (who has worked on 100's of runner) not a soon to be doc;)

BTW-Haynes what kind of medicine are you going into. I don't have anything against modern medicine I just think it can be complimented by tradtional methods as well. In fact my daugter would not be alive today without either. So I have alot of respect for both.

I am not sure what specialty I want to go into yet. I just finished my first year of med school. And I don't have anything against traditional methods as long as they prove favorable in a randomized clinical trial (so basically they have to pass the stringent tests of modern science). One of the best malaria drugs is from a plant that was used to treat malaria in ancient china. I don't even mind if we don't know the precise mechanism by which they work. Many medications and procedures in modern medicine we do not have a mechanism for beyond speculation. But they are proven to be statistically better than placebo. But then again, the placebo affect is very powerful. If you can convince someone that he is getting the best treatment, he will almost certainly have a better outcome.

BTW matt, just want to turn on the smack talk for a second. Running 6 days/week now? BTW, did you see my workout yesterday? By your estimation I probably gained 30 seconds on you in the marathon with that.

We always seem to hyjack Matt's blog with our bull headedness. Sorry.

so to first respond to Haynes...it seems like you were racing on the treadmill and completely broke yourself down while i smartly rested and am not over training and building my mileage up more than even daniels suggests.

so my tendon doesn't hurt at all today. exactly like when it happened 2 weeks ago. what's weird is that i ran a trail marathon between that time and now and had no problems at all after the race. now after a stupid 5k on the road and a 1.5 mile cool down it acted up. it's as if running on a road at all triggers it. i'm not sure that i can't beat this by simply starting to stretch more valiantly and ice after every run as a preventative measure. i'm not concerned, it is just annoying to only run 6 days a week instead of 7. although i'm seriously considering taking yet another day off cause it's so miserably hot and didn't have the opportunity to run in the morning. the only way you're beating me in the marathon is if i can't run without injury. you're just a kid...you can't compete with my superior lung capacity and endurance....

i'll probably trail race this weekend, it's hard to pass up esp if i'm tapered by not running at all cause it's too hot. we'll see what happens with this achilles.

Matt: I am pleased that you think that I have the mental toughness required to overtrain on a treadmill. I assure you that I was not racing. I would have kept the 6:40 pace except for the cramps (which I have never gotten in a race). And despite what my plans are in terms of mileage building, if you look over my logs my buildup has been quite steady. But I agree that it was good for you to rest. I just wanted to smack talk a bit.

Josse: I agree that many problems are fascia constricting muscles or tendons. I think that on an even more basic level, recurring inflammation injuries are caused by anything internal that causes too much friction during the activity that makes it flair. It could be that matt runs differently on the road in such a way that increases the friction between his achilles tendon and something else which triggers the pain. Inflammation can make this worse because the resultant edema gives less space and more constriction or friction. I have not heard about such problems with cortisone, but I am sure they exist. Cortisone also has many other bad side effects which is why doctors don't give just anyone who walks in with tendonitis a cort shot.