Winter Running

If you suffer from sore feet, be careful where you walk and run: with a few bad steps, dangerous surfaces can injure you and undo weeks of recuperation.

Icy, snowy areas represent the most evident example of a dangerous surface. With your feet slipping, sliding, gliding, and floating unpredictably in any direction, icy surfaces can inflict extra damage to your already tender feet and/or Achilles tendons. And on those flat icy areas with ice and snow chunks frozen in place, walking and running can be horrific. Don’t attempt to navigate ice-covered areas unless you absolutely have to.

Moving across any type of uneven surface will be questionable to the safety of your feet. Luckily, walking or running through such an area will feel uncomfortable, and you’d probably sense right away that it’s not good for your lower extremities. And you’d be right. The foot in the lower position is subject to undue stress, as it carries an excessive proportion of the load in this situation. The discomfort should stop you from settling into a route or area that features this type of footing and repeating it as your regular routine; note, however, that even one pass through a risky, icy area can re-injure vulnerable feet. Be careful where you travel.

Some ideas to handle navigation on icy, snowy, wintery conditions:

- Choose relatively even surfaces if you can.
- Use restraint and caution when exercising upon icy, snowy surfaces; assume that all wet, dark areas on pavements are slippery.
- Choose footwear that provides traction; shoes or boots with soles that are grooved, vs. smooth, are ideal.
- Walk and run with a short stride, keeping your center of gravity directly over your feet as much as possible. Avoid the aggressive, lunging stride. If you do this on snowy, icy surfaces, you won’t be walking or running long anyway. You’ll most likely be twirling around on the ground.
- Consider ice-gripping devices for your footwear, like YakTrax or Ice Grips; the metal “teeth” on these accessories can really bite into snow and ice, and keep you from slipping and tumbling.

During the winter in a snowy area, it’s great to keep active, but at the same time, keep safe!

But that opinion could be influenced by the order in which I had the two conditions. I acquired plantar fasciitis first. It was pretty much healed up once I felt the Achilles tendonitis symptoms creep in – a nagging soreness and tightness in the band of tissue which attaches at the heel and travels upward into the calf region, often called the heel cord. And being a veteran plantar fasciitis sufferer, I knew what to do immediately: back off. I stretched the area a little more than I had been, but other than that, my course of action was to ease off on the things that were causing it, mainly uphill sprinting in this case. I had not been doing much of that type of training, and after deciding to embark on it regularly, I went ahead and overdid it. Going from zero to full-tilt will almost always have deleterious effects, regardless of the activity. Sound familiar?

So my particular case of Achilles tendonitis healed in short order, thanks to NOT doing what I did upon first feeling plantar fasciitis’ soreness approaching: keep doing the same thing and hoping it would disappear. It doesn’t work, trust me.

So what if you acquire Achilles tendonitis, and keep on keeping on with whatever is aggravating it? Well, if you make that choice, the initial soreness is going to end up feeling pretty mild compared to what may be awaiting you. Continuing with the straining activity, be it training on risky surfaces, activities with plenty of jumps or stops and starts, uphill walking, walking or hiking longer than you’re prepared for, etc. may in fact result in a rupture of the Achilles tendon…yes, a complete tearing of the tissue. Often the procedure to rectify it at that point is surgical reattachment. Ouch.

Sound worth the risk of continuing on with the aggravation? I don’t think so. I’m glad I made the right choice and readjusted my activities to accommodate the blossoming Achilles injury. You should do the same, if you sense Achilles tendonitis may be starting. And remember, prevention is always easier than a cure. To see a description of stretching and strengthening motions which will head off both plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendonitis, take a look at my book Injury Afoot: 30 Things You Can Do To Relieve Heel Pain And Speed Healing of Plantar Fasciitis. The exercises are compiled into one brief, easy-to-read source.  They’re easy, they work, and they don’t take long to learn or do.