Retro Calcaneal Bursities or Simply Achillies Tendon

I have been suffering from pain in my foot which forced to me to give a break to my running for three weeks. I was glad to when my doctor said you can go ahead and start running. Stunned, happy afterall I just wanted to know what was it that I was suffering from. He threw a name which was hard even to pronounce properly in the beginning. It is called Retro Canal Bursitis.

here's what a quick google search throws. There's even a video for those who are text blind.

Bursitis of the heel

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Bursitis of the heel is swelling of the fluid-filled sac (bursa) at the back of the heel bone under the Achilles tendon.

Causes

A bursa acts as a cushion and lubricant between tendons or muscles sliding over bone. There are bursas around most large joints in the body, including the ankle.

The retrocalcaneal bursa is located in the back of the ankle by the heel. It is where the large Achilles tendon connects the calf muscles to the heel bone.

Repeated or too much use of the ankle can cause this bursa to become irritated and inflamed. Possible causes are too much walking, running, or jumping.

This condition is usually linked to Achilles tendinitis. Sometimes retrocalcaneal bursitis may be mistaken for Achilles tendinitis.

Risks for this condition include starting an aggressive workout schedule, or suddenly increasing activity level without the right conditioning.

Symptoms

• Pain in the heel, especially with walking, running, or when the area is touched
• Pain may get worse when rising on the toes (standing on tiptoes)
• Red, warm skin over the back of the heel

Exams and Tests

Your health care provider will take a history to find out if you have symptoms of retrocalcaneal bursitis. Examining your ankle can find the location of the pain. The physician will look for tenderness and redness in the back of the heel.

The pain may be worse when the doctor bends the ankle upward (dorsiflex). Or, the pain may be worse when you rise on your toes.

You will not usually need imaging studies such as x-ray and MRI at first. If the first treatment does not improve the symptoms, your health care provider may recommend these tests. MRI may show inflammation.

Treatment

Your health care provider may recommend the following treatments:

• Avoid activities that cause pain.
• Ice the heel several times a day.
• Take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (for example, ibuprofen).
• Try over-the-counter or custom heel wedges to help decrease the stress on the heel.
• Try ultrasound treatment during physical therapy to reduce inflammation.
• Use physical therapy to improve flexibility and strength around the ankle, which can help the bursitis improve and prevent it from coming back.

If these treatments don't work, your health care provider may inject a small amount of steroids into the bursa. After the inection, you should avoid stretching the tendon too much because it can break open (rupture).

If the condition is connected with Achilles tendinitis, casting the ankle for several weeks to keep it from moving can be effective. Very rarely, surgery may be needed to remove the inflamed bursa.

Outlook (Prognosis)

This condition usually gets better in several weeks with the proper treatment.

When to Contact a Medical Professional

If you have heel pain or symptoms of retrocalcaneal bursitis that do not improve with rest, contact your health care provider for evaluation and treatment.

Prevention

Maintain proper form when exercising, as well as good flexibility and strength around the ankle to help prevent this condition.

Proper stretching of the Achilles tendon helps prevent injury.

Alternative Names

Insertional heel pain; Retrocalcaneal bursitis

Race Against Time

Man since time immemorial have been wondering what time means to one’s own life and the world in general. As human life is linear, often going through crests and troughs. Very few factor the randomness in it; which brings joys and sorrows, at strange, and often, surprising point in one’s life.

I too didn’t anticipate that running and the triathlete bug would hit on me at such a later age in my life ( I’m 33). But it has. That too, while trying to fulfil a silly reason, which our current society, puts a lot of “weight” on. But, in those silly moments, i have discovered something, which man has been asking himself since ages. ” what can man achieve?”. Which gets translated to– what the human body can achieve? — or how far it can go. Endurance sports is such a quest. Taking the trivial to its ultimate “one thing”.

I am sure as one grows in the sport.Not only one adapts, but one also goes inward. Questioning oneself of his ability to break the next barrier.

An individual breaks a record. But, it pushes the entire humanity to standup and re-look at what it previously believed. And what it thought wasn’t possible. Bewildered, people often refer to such feats as “super-human”. While it is nothing but just a human feat. A breaking of imagination by a tiny speck of the universe. That is what endurance sport does. That is why i would like to be a practitioner of it.

Getting Started

My favourite running athelete Anton Krupicka 

Getting Started

I have been a journalist with a major news magazine for the past five years. I have worked in the developmental sector and with daily news organizations. The reason I have planned to start this blog is to chart my journey from a lazy bum to an active sportsperson, a better runner. 

I have already taken the plunge. And can say, fairly achieved some amount of success. 

But first, why running? And why I want to do this now- at my age. I am 33 years old. 

I had been active in sports throughout my schooling life. Even earning a brown belt in Karate at my hometown. But ever since I left school. I had bid good bye to sports and a healthy life style. Late working and reading hours, bad food habits and no exercise. I started piling weight. So much that, I had touched 93 until last December 2013. 

Everybody started calling me a pig. Snide remarks about my weight, and complicity coming with it. Became a constant reminder. I decided enough. 

Since January 1 2014 - I am on a total veg and fruit diet. Sometimes, I have boiled chicken to substitute protein. And for the first two months I also kept a diary recording my waist, belly and chest measurements. 

In just two months- I lost around 10 kilos. With a moderate one hour walk at my neighborhood park.  

I then decided i need to take it to the next level in order to get that- lean body.  Goal is to loose another 20 kilos- hit between 60 to 62. 

I joined running group pacemakers. And have been striving since then. 

It is fun. I go to a proper running stadium thrice a week. 

I have injured myself. Hence the doctor has asked me to rest for a week. Once I heal. I am hoping to increase my miles, and decrease my waistline. 

Till then

Arios.