The Cause, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention of Achilles Tendon Injuries
Some of the most common sports injuries are those that involve the Achilles tendon.
It is the longest tendon in a human's body where it extends from the heel all the way up to the calf muscles.
It transfers the movement of calf muscles to the foot thus making it very important in leg movements such as jumping, walking and running.
This tendon is strong being able to withstand a force of up to 1000lbs.
However, it is one of the most injured one especially for athletes.
That is why whenever an athlete suffers from a sports injury such as Achilles tendon injuries, their lower leg and foot movements become impaired.
One of the main causes why Achilles tendon injuries happen is overusing them.
Other main reasons are: not preparing them enough for any rapid increase of physical activity and also overexertion.
Abrupt tensing like when sprinting is also one of the causes these kinds of injuries happen.
Football, dancing, gymnastics, softball, volleyball and tennis are some of the sports wherein Achilles tendon injuries are most common.
One of the symptoms that indicate you might have probably injured your Achilles tendon is that you will feel pain at the back of your foot or above the heel.
The pain's severity will depend on how bad the injury is.
Tenderness, swelling and stiffness will follow and then difficulty in pointing your toes.
In bad cases of the injury it is inevitable that pain may worsen.
Consult a doctor to determine how worse the injury is and during the process he might require you to perform simple movements like walking.
Treatment for Achilles heel injuries is weakening in most cases.
It can heal on its own but it will depend on how severe the injury is.
Refrain from any activities that will involve your injured leg to make healing time shorter.
It is also advised to use crutches to aid you in moving around.
Soaking injured area for 30 minutes every 4 hours, 2 to 3 days after the injury is also advised, this will help reduce pain and swelling.
Another thing you can use to reduce the pain and swelling is a compression band.
Doctors will immediately prescribe pain medications to avoid more discomfort to the patient and anti-inflammatory painkillers might be also prescribed to control the swelling of the injured area.
There are several cases wherein the injury is very severe and letting it heal by itself is not the best thing to do.
In these cases surgery becomes necessary.
An injured leg may become immobilized for up to 10 weeks by wearing a cast.
A cast is used to support the injured leg and helping it avoid movements before it is all healed up.
Rehabilitation is often advised by physicians to regain the strength lost by the injured tendon.
Like they say prevention is better than cure and so to prevent any Achilles heel injuries, wearing well-fitted shoes is advised.
This is to prevent abrupt overexertion of the tendon.
Do not increase athletics workloads rapidly.
Instead, do it gradually so that the tendon would have enough time to adapt to the activity changes.
Before training or exercising or doing anything that requires much physical strength, it is best to stretch your calf until you can feel some pull but not pain.
It is best to warm-up before doing activities so that a sports injury may be prevented.
It is the longest tendon in a human's body where it extends from the heel all the way up to the calf muscles.
It transfers the movement of calf muscles to the foot thus making it very important in leg movements such as jumping, walking and running.
This tendon is strong being able to withstand a force of up to 1000lbs.
However, it is one of the most injured one especially for athletes.
That is why whenever an athlete suffers from a sports injury such as Achilles tendon injuries, their lower leg and foot movements become impaired.
One of the main causes why Achilles tendon injuries happen is overusing them.
Other main reasons are: not preparing them enough for any rapid increase of physical activity and also overexertion.
Abrupt tensing like when sprinting is also one of the causes these kinds of injuries happen.
Football, dancing, gymnastics, softball, volleyball and tennis are some of the sports wherein Achilles tendon injuries are most common.
One of the symptoms that indicate you might have probably injured your Achilles tendon is that you will feel pain at the back of your foot or above the heel.
The pain's severity will depend on how bad the injury is.
Tenderness, swelling and stiffness will follow and then difficulty in pointing your toes.
In bad cases of the injury it is inevitable that pain may worsen.
Consult a doctor to determine how worse the injury is and during the process he might require you to perform simple movements like walking.
Treatment for Achilles heel injuries is weakening in most cases.
It can heal on its own but it will depend on how severe the injury is.
Refrain from any activities that will involve your injured leg to make healing time shorter.
It is also advised to use crutches to aid you in moving around.
Soaking injured area for 30 minutes every 4 hours, 2 to 3 days after the injury is also advised, this will help reduce pain and swelling.
Another thing you can use to reduce the pain and swelling is a compression band.
Doctors will immediately prescribe pain medications to avoid more discomfort to the patient and anti-inflammatory painkillers might be also prescribed to control the swelling of the injured area.
There are several cases wherein the injury is very severe and letting it heal by itself is not the best thing to do.
In these cases surgery becomes necessary.
An injured leg may become immobilized for up to 10 weeks by wearing a cast.
A cast is used to support the injured leg and helping it avoid movements before it is all healed up.
Rehabilitation is often advised by physicians to regain the strength lost by the injured tendon.
Like they say prevention is better than cure and so to prevent any Achilles heel injuries, wearing well-fitted shoes is advised.
This is to prevent abrupt overexertion of the tendon.
Do not increase athletics workloads rapidly.
Instead, do it gradually so that the tendon would have enough time to adapt to the activity changes.
Before training or exercising or doing anything that requires much physical strength, it is best to stretch your calf until you can feel some pull but not pain.
It is best to warm-up before doing activities so that a sports injury may be prevented.
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