- Today we're gonna talk about Brad
the top three exercises somebody
can do for Achilles tendonitis.
- All right!
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapist ♪
♪ On the internet. ♪
- Hi, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
Together we are the most famous
physical therapists on the internet.
- In our opinion of course, Bob.
- All right, as we already said Brad
we're gonna talk about three exercises
you can do with Achilles tendonitis.
We've already done treatment for this.
I'll link that up here
- Sure - Above what you do
for cross fiber.
But generally after you've had an injury
with Achilles tendonitis and you already start to develop it
you wanna probably start off with ice for a couple days
- Right.
- Ice and rest.
- Right.
Settle it down.
- Yep.
- And then, right away after that
I want you to start stretching it.
- Okay.
- And one of the best ways to stretch it
is first just using a belt.
- Sure.
- You wanna show Brad? - Yep.
Now, if you've got an injury and you're gonna stretch it
do not get real aggressive.
You're not gonna try and use that old theory
no pain, no gain.
You're gonna stretch it gently
and if you get into sharp pain, you're stretching too much.
You just gotta stretch it gently and as-
- Especially at start. Right.
- Yeah. Right.
So you can see, I'm just gently pulling it up
- And, and some to sustain stretches and
and maybe even a little bit of pumping, right?
- Yeah. I think that's a individual thing.
Some therapists say you gotta hold it for 30 seconds.
I personally think that's okay.
But at the same time I've done it myself on my
my own injuries where I, I will pump it.
- Yep. I do to - And hold it.
- And then as, as things get better towards the end
we're progressing here.
Then you can go ahead and do the more aggressive stretch
and do it off a step.
- Sure.
- Or you can do it off of a incline board.
- Right.
- I think the incline board is a superior method compared
to going off a step.
But this works.
- If you're on a, hang on me, Brad.
- Oh no, no. I, I got good balance, Bob.
See what I'm stretching here.
And this works fairly good.
But if you do this and most people don't have
an incline board, but if, if you got one
or you got one at your workout place, they're more
Comfortable. Yeah. - These are nice
And Brad did show how to make one of these.
- Yeah.
- We've got a video.
- I'll link it.
- All right. Sure.
And we're gonna hold that for, you know
10 to 30 seconds, depending on the level of comfort.
- And this is the stretch again later on in the program.
- Sure.
All right. So you're gonna start off with
the less aggressive stretch with the belt.
And then you can start with some strengthening
to the same area.
- Yep.
- And you can do that with the same belt if you like.
- Sure. You bet.
- Let's pretend this is the one.
Yeah. Again, you're just gonna put it around the fore foot.
Yeah. And you're gonna provide some resistance
and you're just gonna push against it like this.
- Right. Get some movement
- and the same thing again, you don't want to have pain.
- Why don't you do it up here, Bob?
So they can see the profile.
So he is just pushing down and offering some resistance
with the belt.
Now, you gotta remember that at this point in the rehab
you're unable to do it like this, cause it hurts too much.
- Yeah
- This is early strengthening - Right.
This is strengthening.
And, and again, you should do it without pain.
Right.
You can also use a Theraband.
- Sure
- You wanna show that band?
- Oh yeah.
You know, if you happen to have a stretch band
the tubing works, but it kind of rolls off your feet.
Theraband works a little bit better.
And then it's a little easier to do it.
And I wanna emphasize full range of motion. Push down
and come up and little stretch a little bit
as opposed to little baby pumps like this
- Sounds good.
Brad, how many sets would you say and how many reps?
- I would say 10 to 15 repetitions. Three sets.
- Yep. Absolutely.
- Unless it's getting sore by the second
or third set back off, cause it's too early for it.
- Okay. The last exercise, this is the one,
this is the the gym.
What you're gonna want to do is you're actually
gonna do isometric, not isometric.
I said it again.
Eccentric strengthening to the, the calf
and the Achilles tendon.
So let's say this is the one we're gonna work on.
What you do is, you get up on a step and you're gonna
raise it up already like this
and then you're gonna lower it down
- With resistance - With resistance
Yep. So I I'm lifting it up so I'm not
I'm not pushing up like this.
Then I bring it up, then I bring this one up and then, well
I can just lower it down.
I don't have good balance on this Brad.
- So, well you could, yeah. Go ahead.
- Hang on you?
- Yes.
- Okay. So yeah.
Again, you can lift it up with both even if you want
and then lower it down just on the one slowly.
Yep. Lift it up, lower it down. That's kind of hard to do.
- Yeah. You also need a stairway where you got, yeah.
- Where you can hang onto rails on both sides.
So again, I lift them both up then I let go down.
I let go take this one off and I lower it down.
Lift them both up, I lower it down.
- And again, this should be pain free.
It might stress it a little bit, but no sharp pain.
If you do, you're overdoing it. It's not ready for it yet.
- Yeah. This is the one that you wanna do
lots of these once it is ready for it.
- Right.
- Because this is what they have found.
It really strengthens the tendon
without putting a lot of stress on it.
- Sure. Yeah. - What Mackenzie found.
Yeah and from my background too, eccentric strengthening is
a good way to start before going into more
aggressive strengthening.
- Yeah.
- Just keep in mind, you're not gonna do that
until you can do this three sets of 15 without any problems.
- Yep.
And, and maybe a pretty good strong band or a pretty
good strong belt will solve it.
- Right. Right.
All right. If you have any comments,
please put 'em down below.
Otherwise, remember we can fix just about anything, but
- Except for that broken heart
but we are still working on that.
- That's right.
- We will never give up working on that
until we figure it out.
- All right. Thanks a lot.