“I went to DK Injury Clinic after attending a physio with an Achilles Tendinitis/Tendinopathy injury for about 3-4 weeks. I had also tried a number of exercises and stretches (Alfredson Achilles eccentric strengthening) to alleviate the pain/injury myself but nothing was working. I had heard about Shock Wave Therapy treatments from a friend in my triathlon club but to be honest, I ignored the suggestion at first as I was sceptical it would do anything to help the Achilles. However, I was only 4-5 weeks out from my first Ironman and I couldn’t even run 500 meters without serious pain. I decided to give it a go as I had nothing to lose and had no other options at this stage.
Over the course of the next 8-12 days, I attended the clinic 3-4 times and I received shock wave therapy on each occasion. After the 4th session, i was told that I could go for a small 5-6km jog to test it out. To my amazement and utter delight, I was able to run pain free for the first time in about 6 weeks. As I was running, I just kept waiting to feel the pain but nothing. I even ran an extra 3km as I was so delighted with myself.
I was two weeks out from Ironman at this stage and I managed to run 2-3 more times before the event which was just what I needed for my confidence. I went back to the clinic for one more precautionary treatment the week of the race and off I went to Austria for my first Ironman. The couple of runs that I did the two weeks before the race were all less than 10km as I didn’t want to risk aggravating the injury. On the day of the race, I was prepared to have to walk parts of the race as I was convinced the injury would flair back up somewhere along the marathon after the pounding it would take throughout the day. However, to my delight, it didn’t. I managed to run the whole marathon without the Achilles flaring up once.
Looking back on the race now, I am extremely grateful for the advice to go to DK Injury Clinic and more importantly, for getting me to the start line without any Achilles pain/injury.“