For a physiological, healthy gait it is important that the foot is fully mobile and the muscles are elastic. Therefore, it makes sense to stretch a shortening of the Achilles tendon. It is also useful to stretch the calf in cases of Achilles tendon disorders (e.g. Achillodynia), which can also be a cause of shortening.
The article “Achillodynia” might interest you in this respect. Our Achilles tendon is a strong tendon in the body. It attaches our calf muscles to the heel bone.
It tends to shorten or stick. In everyday life we notice this by the occurrence of calf cramps, or by load-dependent pain, e.g. when running or jumping. The risk of a torn muscle fibre or injury to the Achilles tendon increases. Mobility in the opposite direction of plantaflexion, dorsal extension (the pulling up of the foot towards the shinbone) is restricted.
4 simple exercises that help
- Stretching on the wall
- Stretching in long seat
- Stretching while standing on the spot
- Elongation on one step
Stretching exercises while standing
In order to stretch a muscle, you have to stretch it to length. Often it is useful to support the stretching passively, gently and appropriately. There are many possibilities for stretching the calf/axilles tendon.
First a very simple variant. The patient stands in step position in front of a wall. The foot whose Achilles tendon is to be stretched is placed forward, the heel remains on the floor, the forefoot is lifted and leaned against the wall.
While the forefoot now maintains contact with the wall and the heel remains firmly on the floor, the patent shifts its weight forwards over the foot with the front knee stretched, so that the angle between the shin and the back of the foot becomes smaller and smaller. The rear leg may be bent during the stretching exercise. Set a position in which you feel a pleasant distinct pull in the calf muscles and Achilles tendon and hold this position for 20 seconds.
Then release the position, loosen the foot briefly (e.g., foot circling) and repeat the stretching exercise 3 times per side once a day. In this respect, this article may also be of interest to you: Exercises against muscle shorteningAnother possibility to stretch the Achilles tendon while standing is in the starting position “Lunge”. The patient takes a big step forward with one leg, the pelvis remains straight in space, the distance between the feet should be about the same as the span of the arms, but can be adjusted depending on the shortening of the Achilles tendon.
We now stretch the posterior Achilles tendon. For this we try to fix the heel of the rear foot on the floor, also important is that the inner edge of the foot keeps contact, this increases the stretching. Slowly we shift the weight to the front leg until we feel a pleasant but distinct pull.
The stretching position is held for 3×20 seconds as above. The stretching exercises can be done in addition. In addition to active stretching, soft tissue treatment in the sense of manual stretching can be very pleasant, especially for the Achilles tendon.
For this purpose, you can feel your Achilles tendon above the ankle joint. It feels firm and can be clearly felt at the edges. Gentle massage grips along the Achilles tendon across the lower leg allow you to treat the tissue yourself.
The blood circulation is improved and the tissue is gently stretched. The massage grips can be carried out up to the muscle belly of the calf muscles. It is important not to massage too long at one and the same spot. Under certain circumstances this can cause inflammation in the tissue and should be avoided. There may be pain points, but the treatment should always feel pleasant.
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