Your trainers may have stood idle in a closet over the winter, and now you're ready to resume your running regimen or other sport activity. If so, be sure to increase the intensity gradually, doctors say.
If you don't, you increase the risk of straining - and at worst rupturing - an Achilles tendon, warns the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery (DGOU). The Achilles is the thickest and strongest tendon in your body, connecting your calf muscles to your heel bone. Ruptures occur most frequently during sport.
Along with going easy at first, the DGOU advises strengthening your calf muscles and Achilles tendons and regularly stretching them to maintain flexibility, particularly before and after exercise.
Here's one way: Stand on a step with the heel of one foot off the edge and the other foot in the air (you may need to hold on to something for support, such as a handrail or wall). Push up on your toes, hold the position for two seconds, then lower your foot. Repeat 15 times for each foot, ideally three times a day, the DGOU says.
A strained Achilles tendon makes itself felt with pain above the heel and/or inflammation of the tendon (Achilles tendonitis). Then you should avoid the responsible sport activity for a while, lessen its intensity or switch to lower-impact activities. Otherwise you risk a rupture, most likely during a sprint, jump, sudden start, stop or pivot.
