An achilles tendinopathy can be really annoying, especially if you've just got to a good level of fitness and were making some real progress in your training. To help you with your rehabilitation, The 3 following exercises for you to do at home will help treat your achilles tendinopathy.
1. Knee To Wall
Stand around 10cm from a wall with one foot in front of the other. Bend the knee of your front foot so that it touches the wall without lifting up your heel. If you can do this easily, slide your foot back. If you can’t touch the wall without lifting your heel, slide your foot slightly closer. The point you want to be at is where you can feel a stretch in your lower calf but you can still just reach the wall with your heel flat to the ground. By touching the wall you are completing one rep. You could also do this as a stretch and hold it for a prolonged period.
Adjust the distance between the wall and your foot to alter the difficulty of the exercise - but remember, your heel must remain on the floor at all times!
2. Soleus Raises
Stand on a step with your heels hanging off the back. Bend your knees slightly (this will change the muscles that then exercise targets). Then rise up onto your toes and slowly back down again.
To make this exercise harder, you can either add a weight into your hands, hold the squeeze at the top of the movement for longer or perform it on a single leg.
To regress the exercise and make it easier, remove the step and complete it on a flat surface to reduce the range of motion.
3. Isometric Calf Raises
This is similar to the exercise above, however we are going to complete it on one leg. Isometric exercises are essentially 'holds'. So in this case, raise up onto your toes (as in exercise #2), but when you reach the top - just hold that position for 90 seconds. When you have held it for 90 seconds, lower down to the start and repeat. Complete 6 reps of these, rest for 2 minutes and repeat for a total of 4 sets.
Enjoy!
Give those 3 exercises a go at home. Do them every day. The best thing to do is to do them little and often throughout the day. But if you live a busy life, you can just fit them in to your day, when you have a spare 5 minutes.
Remember, if you haven't already, get hold of our Achilles Tendinopathy digital rehabilitation programme below to learn how to manage your injury the most effective way, reduce your pain and recovery faster.
