Tendonitis

[bevan dewar]

hi. got a question about tendonitis, if that is what i have: i am getting pain in the top middle of my one ankle in what seems to be the tendons. i only feel it after turning on deep dives so it seems to be a factor of bloodshift. i have read about cold water causing tendonitis but have not heard of anyone getting it doing one big dive a day in 23 degree water. any advice on what could be done to treat it? it's been there for 3 weeks now and all but dissapears when out of the water. cheers
bevan

 

[Shadowkiller]

Could it be the effort of that turn? Do you use the same movement on shallow turn-arounds? Or do you turn slower on a shallow dive? I know I do.

How deep is deep?

 

[bevan dewar]

na, i turn pretty slow on all these. all dives well part residual volume. cheers
b

 

[Alun]

i doubt if water temperature is a factor for this problem. i would guess it's probably over-use tendonitis, because you dive every day. maybe some sort of twisting motion and sudden hard kick at the bottom aggrevates it. try RICE for a few days (and some unassisted diving!) and see how it is?... that's my advice.

 

[bevan dewar]

rice, no problem. also had pineapple juice recommended. already resigned myself to a few weeks unassisted diving. getting 2 new waterways monos next week is the problem

 

[efattah]

Hi Bevan,

I'm a bit confused--is the pain in a place covered by the footpocket, or not?

Hopefully it isn't tendonitis, because tendonitis never seems to go away. I don't think I will ever be able to finswimming training again.


Eric Fattah
BC, Canada

 

[bluecape]

Hi Eric

Tendonitis is the most common climbing injury. It will go away, but only with super-human will power, like stopping all forms of the sport for up to 12 months in a bad case !! Not sure if freedive-induced tendonitis is the same.

Jeff

 

[Alun]

the important thing is to catch these things early.... i had a very slight case of jumpers knee (patellar tendonitis) a couple of months ago. i spotted some very minor but specific symptoms and identified the problem. i immediately treated with rest and ice, and it healed within 2 weeks... no problem since.

Bevan, just make sure you don't test it out too early. at the first sign of a problem, just stop again and give it more rest. maybe some gentle stretching massaging won't do any harm. it will only turn into a serious problem if you keep aggrevating it over and over.

 

[bevan dewar]

good advice i think alun. eric, pain is about 1cm above the top edge of the waterway footpocket, in the groove between the two central tendons. thanks for the input
b

 

[cebaztian]

Bevan. Why not try some diving with a FULL FOOTPOCKET instead of those mean footkiller waterway monos.

 

[tylerz]

My experiences:

The colder the water, the higher the chance of tendonitis (if that is what it is). Diving in the winter in 6-8 C water, for one day of about 1.5 hours total dive time, I experienced extreme pain at the base of my toes and the end of the foot. I could no longer bend my toes all the way forward. This persisted, without any further monofin diving, for 2-3months. At that time it began slowly decreasing in pain and some time in the summer, I no longer sensed it. Diving in the warmer waters, it did not return, until I allowed my foot to get extremely cold again. This time not as much though and it recovered within a week.

I switched to bi-fins during cold season, with full footpockets, which extended the amount of time in the cold I could stay, before having the same symptoms. However, since the new bi-fin was more work to move than previous fins I had, my ankle began getting a similar symptom, such as the one Bevan refers to.

So from these experiences my opinion is:
- whether it is tendonitis or not, extreme cold does heighten the chance of injury to stressed joints/tissues.
- the injury can heal depending on the original damage, your body, your rest, your nutrition.
- it makes sense that if the tendons shrink/compress due to the cold, then exerting strain on them can damage them, since they will not have the characteristics that they are meant to operate under. The tissues will be inflexible and may tear/stretch abnormally.

Recommendation for Bevan in addition to the recommendations already supplied:
- simulate the ankle strain in warmer waters somehow, such as swim with stiff bi-fins at the surface to add strength and flexibility to the ankle location.
- work in dry conditions on ankle strength and do lots of stretching.

Cheers,

Tyler

 

[bevan dewar]

tyler, cheers
cebastian, you must be joking my friend (as immerlustig would put it)

b

 

[tylerz]

Oh I forgot to mention, the whole point of describing the experience with the bi-fins, was to emphasize that this happened only for the first few times and then my ankle seemed to have strengthened to be able to support the kicks, thereby alleviating further ankle problems afterwards.

 

[Alun]

"getting 2 new waterways monos next week is the problem"

Bevan... can you please report on your new fins when you've tested them? tell us which you prefer and why etc. i'm guessing you are getting the M2LD and M2MD, right? i've been happy with the M2LD for a while now but i've been thinking about doing a few test dives with the M2MD... something a touch stiffer. it may be more suitable when diving heavy and ascending quickly?...
thanks!

 

[bevan dewar]

alun, getting LDM2 and LDM1. wishing now i had ordered a MD cause diving with peter pederson today and he swears by his MDM2. though his waterway has the full wing thing. will at least test his and report back.
b
p.s just glued 2 x 10cm rubber 1inch rails down the edges of the fin to try help with the early stage of freefall. cant yet notice the diference but should help in theory if it doesnt mess with the flex charcteristics.

 

[Alun]

which fin have you been using so far?... for your 80-90m dives? sorry, you've probably already told me, but i've forgotten!

do you dive with a neckweight? this helps to keep you straighter when sinking... but maybe not a good idea if you plan to do more AIDA competitions!

 

[bevan dewar]

LDM1. and neckweight, mainly because i cant find a half kg weight for my belt. but i dont try to dive according to aida's rediculous equipment rules anyway.