posterior tibialis tendonitis

[BurkeDad]

Okay. After much reseach I have discovered that I have posterior tibialis tendonitis. And I have really no idea how in the hell I goy it. I have been runnig barefoot for almost 2 years and I have never had an issue. For the past 9 weeks I have been training for a 1/2 marathon but I have been really trying to increase milage really slowly to avoid injries.

Any ideas how I could have aggrevated my ankle enough to cause tendonitis? If I started changing my gate could that have caused it? I am at a total lose and really bumed out b/c not sure if I will be ready for the race.

thanks for any help.

 

[TomM]

I feel your pain. I have been trying to get over the same thing for over a year. I go to an applied kinesiologist who has been recommending vitamins and trying to keep the posterior tibialis muscle from getting "switched off." In my case it came on suddenly but whatever imbalance there was in the way I was running probably has been going on for some time. I chalk it up to spending a large part of my life being foot-gear dependent. The PT supports the arch, so continuing to run led to plantar fasciitis in the heel area. I took a couple months off. Rest, elevation and ice seems to be helping. I resumed running about a week ago. I was able to do an easy 2 mile run today without aggravating it, so I am hopeful. This is just my experience. You might want to Ask the Docs to weigh in on your situation.
Good Luck!

 

[ajb422]

I had the same thing for a long time and then got annoyed as hell that it wasn't going away so I just decided to ignore it and run on it anyway.

I kinda have a theory with absolutely no scientific backing that some of these injuries are just inevitable and we are going to get them and they'll get better and we'll get stronger for it. But with the number of injuries I've had for absolutely no good reason, it does make me wonder if they are just inevitable.

 

[Neil_D]

Hi there,
I had exactly the same injury and have now fully recovered well 99%. It takes a long time, I would say 4 months. The tendon material gets broken down then has to be remodeled. I used Ultrasound on it twice a day for around 2 months and that helped but you will have to significantly reduce your running until you clear the problem up. You also need to find out how you caused it. With myself it was an over enthusiastic stretching session around the ankles and some hill running while in the UK.

Good luck

Neil

 

[mykroberts]

90% sure I had PTT issues - main symptom was pain on the inside of my foot (arch area). General tendonitis treatments should apply. If you still want to do your race and minimize rest you should try some hydrotherapy - alternating hot/cold water to stimulate blood flow (usually do it in the shower, 2 mins hot, 30 secs ice cold, repeat 3 times or so). Your body also needs certain minerals to keep up with tissue repair and I think I needed to take selenium (or was it magnesium?). Only knew cause my sister does muscle testing but not everyone is into "voodoo" medicine

 

[Jennn]

I had a similar situation with a different tendon. Mine was anterior tibialis tendon that was injured. For me it came on suddenly about 4 days after my last half marathon a couple years ago. Anything that even touched the inside top of my foot - basically most shoes that weren't ballet slipper style or flipflops (or VFF Jaya/Classic), above my arch would aggravate it, and even the smallest arch support would also make it hurt like crazy - it was the reason I ditched the shoes and went barefoot/minimal in the first place.

Like another poster mentioned - it took about 4 months to fully recover - after 2 months of avoiding the doctor and doing nothing but rest and ice and avoiding shoes as much as possible. Once diagnosed I was referred to a PT - it was the PT that made all the difference for me. I did strengthening exercises daily for 8 weeks, and the PT did some kind of massage that hurt like hell but was intended to break up the scar tissue on the tendon 3 times a week. I started running again at that point, barefoot, 5 minutes at a time and worked my way from there.

Here's some of the PT exercises that I felt helped a lot:

Squats while on a balance board - the board tipped forward and backward, the idea was to keep it level while doing squats.
Standing on one foot on a bosu ball. 1-2 minutes per foot per rep to start, then added time per rep as I got stronger. 3-4 reps per foot. I still do this one at home on a cheap balance disc I got from Amazon, not as big or nice as a bosu ball but more affordable than one too.
Foot lift thingies on stairs. Stand on the bottom step, facing downstairs with heel on the step and toes pointing down. Lift foot and toes as far as you can go (is that called dorsiflexing?), repeat 15 - 20 reps per set. I started with one set once per day and increased as I got stronger to 2-3 sets. This exercise really aggravated the tendon and hurt a lot at first.