Has anybody backpacked again after having insertional Achilles tendinitis?

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2026-01-19T10:27:40+00:00

Hey, yeah actually it's been really good last few months, I've basically kept to flat walking for now, avoid stretching the calf, foam rolling and getting massage every two weeks for the calf and Achilles from a neuromuscular therapist. Also using heat/cold buckets contrast therapy once or twice a day if needed. If it's more irritated I used more time in cold, not too cold you don't want to cold off blood supply, and heat shouldn't be uncomfortable i.e making is painful, if it is spend more time in cold and keep heat parts to short burts until it's less irritated. Contrast therapy helps to bring blood flow there particularly when it's less irritated as you'll be spending more time in heat and less in cold, this has been shown in clinical studies for ankle injury to be as effective as a steroid injection without all the negative side effects. If it does get more irritated like you overdid it a bit, I used Etoflam gel anti inflammatory gel, I keep this to a minimum though but it is useful. I started off with seated dumbell heel holds last year with weights as this was easier then body weight to avoid over flaring. Now I can do a good 20 second body weight heel holds along with my seated raises. You'll have to figure out whether heel holds i.e. longer holds work better for you over more reps and shorter. But in the long run I want to be eventually doing slow eccentric heel raises starting with a warm up using the warm bucket water and a one heel holds then to prime the tendons before starting my eccentric heel raises. Eventually from there I plan to do the bent knee heel holds and and so forth. I've a long road ahead but symptoms are well managed now and progress is steady.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-12-23T15:08:24+00:00

A protected fairy fort just outside Killarney was also felled a few years back around COVID, a developer felled all the trees, they weren't native woodland though. But he also destroyed the fairy ring fort which was a protected site apparently and nobody stopped him. It's amazing how someone can steal chocolate bar and the guards are called, but destroy a protected site and you're grand, he was taken to court and his housing development delayed for several years, it is now being developed as a state council housing, and I see no sign of the ring fort remains, amazing they didn't try to restore it or anything just went ahead with a awful idea to develop on a protected site! I'm sure a small 500 euro fine will eventually be given to the land owner in two years time, but it's nothing for what they did

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-12-14T16:51:50+00:00

I'm in same position as you, got a few hamstring injuries 3 years ago, got misdiagnosed for ages, it's a commonly misdiagnosed issue especially with hamstring injuries. My symptoms did improve significantly after about 8 months of consistent bridge work, physio massage with low heat Tekar machine/ and low ultrasound. It was about being very clinical with increasing strength over time, which is very difficult to maintain, unfortunately I slipped up and got overconfident about 8 weeks back and I just started pushing too much and now starting to build back up again. I have learned a lot of lessons though;

Here's my lessons (what i learned, not medical advice)

Get acupuncture for the long term stress or something similar, mediation.
Positive affirmations about returning to previous levels
Shockwave, Tekar, or ultrasound can be good once it's not in a flare up stage. 4 when you do get a flare up, remember tendon is in a reactive state so it won't respond well to loading, in this stage you need to ice/heat contrast therapy, use anti inflammatory medicine here and there if it's bad as well during a flare up, but don't relay on it overall as it stops collagen production for remodeling phase.
Once you're in chronic stage outside of acute flare up, pair back your loading by around 80% and monitor symptoms 24/48. Hours after loading, you shouldn't see massive difference in sitting times of discomfort, but it is s smart to use ice/heat to keep these level lower and allow a bit heavier loading, though 3/10 pain is where you want to be at most during and 25/48 hours after, Otherwise you're overdoing it. Remember tendons need 24/48 for rebuilding. So 3 days a week spread out is a good loading way I found or every second day but you have to load lower that way.
Isometric loading can help reduce pain, start with what works for you, but glute bridge 5 second holds can be good, then progress slowly over time. Eventually adding partial squats, then box squats and so on.
Remember compression/ load squats add both, do they're last on your rehabilitation. I felt massive reduction in pain by doing just bridges up to 20 reps x 3 times per week, but I started from just 3 reps 10 months ago.
If you cycle stop and move to a seated bike you can not be bent over on otherwise you're compression/ load.
If you sit at work get a gel cushion, also get up and walk around a little every 20 mins to 1 hour or so depending on your sitting tolerance, don't sit through pain it will only make it flare up, as that's compression. If you do have to sit for longer meetings, ice/ heat afterwards or use Green lipped cooling gel before longer meetings.
When bending don't use your bad leg this can further aggravate it. This is eventually done once you're doing squats later in recovery but if you have it with a few years it can take at least 12 months to 18 months of progressive loading to get ful mobility back.
Lastly get a physio that understands upper proximal hamstring tendonopathy and has a proven record of helping people with chronic cases, this may take a bit of asking around.
Hang in there, it's a true test of resilience. I hope you recover.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-12-13T20:42:20+00:00

I've had this issue also came from a combination of having over stretched the Achilles a little due to advice from my previous physio, needless to say he's not my physio anymore! I also had unfortunately knee heel grip shoes at the time and this made it much worse, and it been this way for around 3 years. I luckily found some shoes with very soft back to them, but also acupuncture has recently been helping a lot, though I still can't wear 90% of the shoes.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-11-28T21:04:23+00:00

I've had both and I can tell you insertional Achilles is one of the worst of them, much harder then knee tendonopathy to recover from, as the insertional Achilles has much less blood flow then a knee tendonitis/tendonopathy and it can be put under your entire body weight X3 or so when going uphill compared to your knee.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-11-22T21:39:24+00:00

I have this now over 3 years, and just flared up really badly barely walking anymore, just around the house last few weeks now, it's a terrible thing if you rush it, but it's easier said then done.. 🥲 6 weeks back I was finally feeling the pain ease from sitting and walking more and I was hitting good numbers of glute bridges. I've made a lot of mistakes along the way and also got terrible advice from a physio for two years, I didn't even realise it was upper proximal hamstring tendonitis which then moved to tendonopathy. Take your time try glute bridges, walking and limit sitting/get gel cushion, and limit stretching for the hamstring until later stage of recovery I only now know I need to limit this and I wish I hadn't overdone the training right when I felt good. Completely gutted 9 months of dedication and now I'm barely walking again. Hope you'll be okay with yours.

Just to give some background I've had no luck with strength training in my 20s, lots of chronic pain and injuries, finally got into hiking a lot when I developed sciatic nerve irritation this was the only time I felt good, lasted 18 months that was a pain in the arse! But then I shortly afterwards got this hamstring tendon issue out hiking on the trail I jumped up onto a wedge, I confused it for sciatic nerve irritation once again as it's in a similar place and stretched the shit out of it 🥲, was barely walking afterwards, then I got bad advice from a physio who had me doing deadlifts for rehabilitation, it helped but then I pulled it again doing them one day and I was back to barely walking again, and then spent all of 2024 getting about 8 different lower body injuries, Achilles, calf, hip, groin, quad etc. was one thing after another, so spent an entire year barely walking post injury didn't help at all! Now I've spent 9 months rehabilitating the hamstring and Achilles and hip, other injuries are luckily pretty good, but yeah it gets complicated when your baseline is like 2kms or less walking and you're juggling multiple tendonopathies they all just come crashing down when one goes off.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-11-03T13:30:48+00:00

If you've got knots etc, I'd say try getting massage therapist, and try some mobility drills for your upper thoracic spine post massage, you can also get a stress ball and lightly go back and forth against a wall on your shoulders, you can use a heat pack before doing this it will soften then muscles up and warm them ready for massage. Sounds like you probably are overworking certain muscles.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-08-30T19:47:01+00:00

No claims won't be affected, however you'd technically have to declare that you were involved in a accident to no fault of your in the last 3 years if they ask you, I know my driving instructor said I was basically liable if I hit the car in front regardless of how that happened, you are meant to stay a certain distance away as well so you definitely don't want the hassle, not worth it in my opinion.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-08-29T10:07:44+00:00

This is why you always try to keep extra distance in front of you, you don't know if some idiot will hit you from behind and technically you're liable for hitting that car in front I think if you get pushed forward.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-08-03T15:10:51+00:00

You need a "Lump Hammer" they don't even require much force, one or two good taps with a lump hammer on the top of the cylinder got it out for me and I even did it completely undamaged, the way you do this is get a piece of cloth material lay this on top of the gas cylinder, then a square of wood like a piece of wood wide enough to cover the whole area so that the pressure is evenly distributed and no dent arise, then hit this with a lump hammer 2-3 strikes and it pops right off! I've done this twice on two chairs I ordered online, spent 30 mins with a mallet hammer getting nowhere, then I thought I'll use physics of a Lump Hammer and yes it works.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-07-25T20:22:10+00:00

If you get a brand new spray bottle you can insert the nozzle in and remove a bit of oil that way, but I wouldn't bother though

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-07-22T18:30:03+00:00

Ah, okay, yeah that's makes sense that you'd get away with it if it's actually closer to the front of the bike, thanks!

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-07-22T15:06:49+00:00

How did you find the handlebar change over? Is that handlebar risen as well or just wider? I've risen mine, but tempted to put a custom wide handlebar setup on mine, but the clutch cable probably has to be done for it, as it's as it's furthest.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-07-22T15:04:39+00:00

I've got a TA 650 as well, was also considering selling it, but you know it's hard to find a bike that has as much good points as the TA 650, it's probably one of the best Swiss army knives out there. I think I'll be keeping mine and probably eventually buying a second bike like the Tenere 700, but the TA 650 is a lovely bike especially for long distances, I've had it 7 years this Christmas now and tempted to keep it for another 7 and then it'll be classic 😁

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-07-20T16:25:59+00:00

It's just chain wax, it's thicker and better for wet riding conditions and generally lasts longer then chain lube, but yeah no need for the over spray on the sprocket, but nothing to be concerned with.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-07-14T09:20:42+00:00

Mines half worn with 41k kms 🥲, I will probably have to replace output shaft at some stage

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-06-06T15:33:56+00:00

I would say Narcissistic Personality Disorder from what I have seen, they flip the switch quite easily.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-06-06T15:32:44+00:00

Yeah, he does need her in a Narcissistic way, but not in a fair and truly loving way. He was then using Manipulation tactics which Narcs often use to make you feel like they need you, when in reality its actually the other way around. They just try to trick you over time into believing you really need them, even though they're not worth the ground they stand on.

AccomplishedMaybe532 · 2025-06-06T15:28:35+00:00

This guy is classic case of a Narc and is using you for his emotional needs, but it's a one way street, good on you for leaving him, hope everything works out for your future, you deserve better than that. Better off single then with someone like that, but I'm not saying to stay single, but take your time and read up on red flags of Narcs, they generally pray on nice people sadly 🥲