End-of-Summer Achilles Tendinitis: Why Your Heel May Hurt Now

Summer has a funny way of making us more active without really thinking about it.

Maybe you walked miles on vacation. Played more pickleball or tennis. Started running outside again. Spent weekends doing yard work. Or maybe you simply traded your supportive sneakers for months spent in sandals and flip-flops.

But now, as summer is winding down, you notice something: the back of your heel is sore.

At first, it may only hurt when you get out of bed. Or maybe your Achilles feels stiff for the first few minutes of a walk. You might even notice pain after exercising that seems to disappear once you rest.

Don’t automatically write it off as normal soreness.

You could be dealing with Achilles tendinitis, and the end of summer is a good time to address the problem before a nagging ache turns into something that keeps you from the activities you enjoy.

Key Takeaways

• Your Achilles tendon can become inflamed and painful when you suddenly increase your activity level, or switch to less supportive footwear, as often happens in the summer
• Early symptoms of tendinitis include pain or tenderness at the back of your heel, or brief discomfort in the tendon area that improves as you move
• When addressed in early stages, tendinitis can often be addressed with conservative treatments such as rest, physical therapy, changes in footwear, and the addition of custom orthotics

Why Does My Achilles Hurt After a Busy Summer?

Your Achilles tendon is the strong band of tissue connecting your calf muscles to your heel bone. Every time you walk, run, climb stairs, jump, or push off the ground, your Achilles has work to do.

The problem often develops when the amount of stress placed on the tendon increases faster than your body is prepared to handle.

Think about how easily that can happen during summer.

You may go from sitting at a desk most of the week to walking 15,000 steps a day on vacation. You decide to play three games of pickleball after barely playing all spring. Or you increase your running mileage because the longer days give you more time outside.

None of those activities are necessarily bad for you. The issue is the sudden change in workload.

Your Achilles tendon needs time to adapt.

Summer Shoes May Be Part of the Problem

Activity isn’t the only thing that changes in summer. Footwear does, too.

Flip-flops, flat sandals, worn-out sneakers, and other minimally supportive shoes can place different stresses on your feet and lower legs than the footwear that you normally wear.

Combine that change with extra walking and you may start noticing discomfort around the Achilles tendon.

That doesn’t mean you can never wear sandals. But if the back of your heel is already hurting, your footwear is one of the factors worth looking at.

Early Signs of Achilles Tendinitis

Achilles problems don’t always begin with severe pain.

In fact, some of the most important warning signs are easy to ignore.

You may notice:

• Stiffness around the Achilles tendon (at the back of your calf) when you first get out of bed
• Pain or tenderness at the back of the heel
• Discomfort along the tendon above the heel
• Pain after running, walking, jumping, or climbing stairs
• Swelling around the tendon
• Symptoms that improve after you start moving but return later
• Increasing soreness after several active days in a row

Morning stiffness is particularly common. You may take a few uncomfortable steps, loosen up, and assume that everything is fine.

But feeling better once you’re moving doesn’t necessarily mean the underlying problem is gone.

Achilles Tendinitis: Should I Just Rest Until It Feels Better?

Reducing the activity that is irritating the tendon can certainly be part of recovery.

But there is a difference between giving your Achilles a chance to recover and simply waiting for pain to disappear before jumping straight back into the exact activity that caused your irritation in the first place.

If you run five miles, develop pain, stop running for a week, and then immediately return to your previous running distance, you haven’t necessarily fixed the reason that your tendon became inflamed.

A better recovery plan may involve temporarily modifying your activity, addressing tightness or weakness in the calf muscles, evaluating your shoes, gradually rebuilding tendon strength, and carefully increasing activity again.

The right approach depends on what’s actually causing your pain.

One Important Exception: Sudden Achilles Pain

A nagging Achilles problem is different from a sudden injury.

If you experience sudden, severe pain in the back of your ankle, particularly with a popping sensation or difficulty pushing off the injured foot, contact Marietta podiatrist Dr. Alvin Cowans immediately. Those symptoms may indicate an Achilles tendon tear or rupture, rather than ordinary tendinitis.

Don’t Carry Your Summer Injury Into Fall

This is one of the easiest times of year to tell yourself you’ll deal with pain later.

School starts. Work gets busy. Fall sports begin. The calendar fills up.

Meanwhile, that little ache in August becomes the pain you’re still dealing with in October.

Achilles tendinitis is often much easier to address when you pay attention to the early warning signs instead of continuing to push through worsening pain.

At our podiatry practice in Powder Springs, Dr. Cowans can evaluate your Achilles pain, identify factors that may be contributing to the problem, and develop a treatment plan around your activity level and goals.

Depending on your condition, treatment may include changes to your activity, footwear adjustments, stretching and strengthening, getting fitted for custom orthotics, or other conservative and advanced treatment options.

The goal isn’t simply to make your heel feel better for a few days.

It’s to help you return to the activities you enjoy without immediately ending up right where you started.

Is Your Achilles Trying to Tell You Something?

If the back of your heel has been bothering you since your summer vacation, running program, pickleball games, or simply a more active few months, don’t assume pain is the price of being active.

Persistent Achilles pain deserves attention.

Visit Dr. Alvin Cowans at Optimum Podiatry in Powder Springs, GA, serving patients throughout Cobb and Paulding Counties, including Marietta, Smyrna, Mableton, Kennesaw, Austell, Dallas, Hiram, Acworth, and Lithia Springs.

Call 770-727-0614 or follow this link to schedule an appointment and get your Achilles ready for fall.