Taking care of your Achilles...Q & A by Karina Teahan

Karina Teahan is a Chartered Physiotherapist and a regular participant at the races in Cork. She recently wrote an online article which outlines some of the problems with your Achilles.

Here are some of the questions asked in the article....

Q. Can you tell me about your running experience and your physiotherapy qualifications, and where you live, work and run now?

Q. As a starter for ten – what is the Achilles?

Q. Why does it cause problems for runners?

Q. What are the most common problems for the Achilles?

Q. What should you do for the above?

Q. What precautions should we take to avoid problems in the Achilles?

Q. What are your top three Achilles stretches?

You can find the article and all the answers to the questions HERE

Wearing high heels can compromise muscle efficiency...

According to a new study in the Journal of Applied Physiology, regularly wearing high heels can compromise your foot's ability to work naturally. Women who had worn heels of at least 5 centimeters (1.9 inches) for 40 hours a week the last two years were compared to women who wore high heels less than 10 hours a week. Researchers had both groups walk barefoot and measured the women's muscle activity, joint movement and other aspects of biomechanics. The high-heel group had much greater undesirable values for the measurements. The researchers concluded, "The results suggest that long-term high heel use may compromise muscle efficiency in walking." .........and obviously, running.

It seems that regular wearing of high heels can shorten calf muscles and stiffen Achilles tendons at the back of the legs. Their advice is to limit the wearing of high heels and to move to low-profile shoes in your sedentary hours.