Lesser Known Exercises For Achilles Tendonitis

Updated: Jul 28

Achilles tendonitis is something which I personally have been cursed with, in fact I have been sidelined from running 5-6 times with 6-8 weeks out each time. The thing is I ran without issue for years, then my achilles goes once and then the other one went and then it was just a continuous cycle of managing achilles pain until I couldn’t manage it any longer.

However, all that changed when I found a new method of treating my achilles problems.

Why do we get achilles problems?

The achilles tendons connects our calcaneus bone to our gastrocnemius muscle. When we are running or jumping and we land- our achilles takes almost all our the power and weight of the landing.

This is equal to:

At least 2 times our body weight when we are running

Up to 8 times our body weight when sprinting
3-12 time our body weight when jumping

Our achilles is naturally a very strong tendon but this is really asking a lot! Especially if you think you go and run for 30 minutes and every step your achilles is taking twice your body weight.

So is the achilles just a fatal floor in the human design?

Evolutionarily humans ran a lot more than they do right now and I can guarantee you that we did not suffer with achilles tendonitis.

So , what happened?

Well chairs were invented, so we started sitting down for 10 hours per day and shoes were created so we no longer walked around barefoot.

What this has done is shorten our achilles tendon, made us weak and lost most of our natural mobility. When an infant sees something on the floor that they want they will go into a deep squat with their knees over their toes and their bums nearly touching the floor to pick it up, most go on to lose this ability by the age of 6 where you are told to sit in a chair for 7 hours a day in school.

So am I suggesting that you never wear shoes, never sit down and don’t let your kids go to school? Of bloody course not, I have a far easier solution!

What are the more commonly known exercises achilles tendonitis

Eccentric achilles loading

This is the number 1 most effective short term method that most people know of for solving achilles problems.

As great as this is at fixing and possibly making you less susceptible to achilles problems, it does not fix the root problem of the injury!!!

Friction massage

When you get achilles tendonitis your collagen fibres are al out of place and messy when your body is rebuilding your achilles. What friction massage does is get the collagen fibres in place faster to speed up the remodelling process.

Foam rolling your calves

This can help to stop your calves pulling on your achilles and therefore ease some of the pain. Check out our blog on foam rollers here: https://www.georgelewishealth.com/post/benefits-of-foam-rolling-and-how-to-pick-the-best-one-for-you

Gentle stretching of your calves

This can release some of the pressure off your achilles and also increase the range of motion at your ankle. However, if you push a stretch too hard then this can cause inflammation on your achilles and also pull all your collagen fibres out of line .

Rolling out your plantars

A tight plantar can cause your a pulling on your achilles and this can lead to an increase risk of developing achilles tendonitis.

For the best plantar roller click the link: https://amzn.to/4csdo91

Glute activation/strengthening

When our glutes don’t fire/activate properly it leads to your calves doing more of the work and this puts more strain on your achilles. By strengthening your glutes and by doing activations before hand this will help your use your glutes more and take some strain off your achilles.

Check out this blog to see how you can strengthen your glutes HERE.

How I solved my achilles tendonitis permanently

Now down to the exercises I used for fixing my achilles tendonitis. In 2021 I was desperate with my running, I was in a particularly bad patch with injuries and this was the second time that year which I had to stop training because of my achilles.

I did some research and came across the Kneesovertoesguy on Youtube, I had no idea how much my performance was about to improve or how bulletproof my body would become to injuries.

You see a long time ago some research came out which showed that the most vulnerable

position you can put your body into was a position where you have your knees over your toes. What should have happened next was people should have started training in that position to bulletproof their bodies, instead what happened was people just avoided that position entirely.

Now what this program did was it got me to train with my knees over my toes, strengthening me in positions which improved my range of motion. It took a while and just copying the Youtube videos without a properly structured program was my first mistake, I was however seeing a lot of progress in my ability to do the exercises- mainly the ATG split-squat. These exercises for achilles tendonitis are the best out there in my opinion.

I highly recommend that if you struggle with any running injuries at all then you at least try 1 month with the ATG program- here is a link you can sign up with: https://bit.ly/4eI8UwB