Summer brings more miles. More trail runs, more hikes along Connecticut’s rail trails, more pickup soccer games on hot pavement. And with all that extra activity comes a nagging pain right above the heel. If every step feels like your Achilles tendon is tight and sore, you are not alone. This is one of the most common overuse injuries in runners and weekend athletes, and it tends to spike every summer when training picks up too fast.
What Causes Achilles Tendinitis?
The Achilles tendon connects your calf muscle to your heel bone. It handles enormous force every time you push off the ground, more than your body weight with each running stride. When you ask it to do more than it is ready for, tiny fibers in the tendon get irritated and inflamed. This usually happens when you increase mileage, add hills, or switch to a stiffer shoe too quickly. A 2024 study in Sports Biomechanics found that runners over 50 with Achilles tendinopathy had noticeably weaker hip muscles than runners without it, even though their ankle strength looked about the same. That means weak hips, not just tight calves, can be part of the problem.
How Do You Know It’s Achilles Tendinitis and Not Something Else?
Achilles tendinitis usually causes a dull ache or stiffness right above the heel, worse first thing in the morning or right after exercise. It often loosens up as you warm up, then tightens again afterward. If you feel a sudden sharp pop, or you cannot push off your foot at all, that could be a tear. See a doctor right away instead of trying home care in that case.
What’s the Best Treatment for Achilles Tendon Pain?
Research keeps pointing to the same answer: slow, controlled loading exercises, not rest alone. A 2023 review of 12 clinical trials involving 543 patients found that structured loading exercises worked as well as, and in some cases better over time than, passive treatments like ultrasound or rest. A broader 2026 review of 31 studies on athletes confirmed that eccentric loading, meaning exercises where the tendon lengthens under tension, like slowly lowering your heel off a step, consistently reduced pain and got athletes back to their sport with few setbacks. Interestingly, a 2024 trial of 60 patients found that adding laser therapy to eccentric exercise did not improve results any more than the exercise alone. The exercises are doing the real work.
Options that support this kind of recovery include physical therapy, a structured home exercise program, supportive footwear, and chiropractic care to check hip and ankle alignment, since imbalances higher up the chain can add extra strain on the tendon. Similar alignment issues show up in conditions like IT band syndrome, where the hips carry more responsibility than most runners realize.
How Can You Prevent It From Coming Back?
Increase mileage gradually, no more than about 10 percent a week. Add calf and hip strengthening to your routine two or three times a week. Replace worn running shoes before they lose their cushioning. Warm up before hard efforts and stretch your calves afterward. These same habits also help prevent related problems like plantar fasciitis and runner’s knee, since tight calves and weak hips tend to cause more than one issue at once.
The Bottom Line
Achilles tendinitis is common, but it responds well to the right kind of movement. Rest alone often is not enough, and the research is clear that gradual, targeted loading is what actually rebuilds the tendon’s strength. If summer training has left your heel aching, start with hip and calf strengthening, ease back into mileage slowly, and get it checked out if the pain does not improve within a couple of weeks.
Sources & Further Reading
- Maetz, R., Dubé, M-O., Tougas, A., Prudhomme, F., Dubois, B., & Roy, J-S. (2023). Systematic Review and Meta-analyses of Randomized Controlled Trials Comparing Exercise Loading Protocols With Passive Treatment Modalities or Other Loading Protocols for the Management of Midportion Achilles Tendinopathy. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/23259671231171178
- Trybulski, R., Olaniszyn, G., Matuszczyk, F., Gałęziok, K., Vovkanych, A., & Svyshch, Y. (2026). Eccentric Training for Tendinopathies in Athletes: A Scoping Review and Evidence Gap Map. Journal of Sports Science & Medicine. https://doi.org/10.52082/jssm.2026.34
- Klein, M., Patterson, C., Karim, A., & Cuddeford, T. (2024). Running biomechanical and isokinetic strength differences in masters runners with and without Achilles tendinopathy. Sports Biomechanics. https://doi.org/10.1080/14763141.2024.2373376
- Shriya, S., Arya, R. K., Kushwaha, S., Chahar, S., P, M., & Mehra, P. (2024). Effectiveness of Low-Level Laser Therapy Combined With Eccentric Exercise in Treating Midportion Achilles Tendinopathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.62919
