Always both legs. This helps to avoid creating muscle and strength imbalances which can lead to further injury.

Oooh, a tear in the PTT is a bit beyond my skill level if I'm honest. I had a mile- to mid-level of tendinopathy but never had a tear. (at least, as far as I am aware.) I'd check in with your physical therapist and see what they would say.

Glad to hear that they have helped!

I personally prefer trail running shoes on nearly all terrain these days and only break out the tramping boots for winter conditions when gaiters and crampons are needed! I feel like really good grip is more important than ankle support.

Yes, that's right. Do each exercise with as many reps as you feel will help in a single set and then move on to the next. I would sometimes do two sets in a day: one in the morning, and one in the afternoon/evening.

@@WestieRunner Awesome, thank you for your clarification and video, these exercises have been very helpful already!

Appearances can be deceiving! Definitely helped by a curry and a beer for dinner, followed by a really good night's sleep.

Thanks Shaun. A so-so day on the trails beats a good day in the office.

Thanks Mike.

Thanks Bevan.

Thank you! Got any plans for any big runs coming up?

……a big one for early 2025 fingers crossed life and body allows 🤞 Are you confirmed for the Miler?

@@nicholasbromfield4980 Yup, sure am. Hope to see you on the start line ready for a loooong day on the trails.

Thanks Seawon! Glad that I got it done and even if the race didn't go so well, it was a beautiful day out on the trails.

It's a fast 100k in a nice part of the world. Also pretty cheap to enter by NZ standards and a WSER qualifier if you fancy a trip over here again!

​@WestieRunner ooooh!!! But I really want to do Tarawera miler hehehe. I don't think I can make it for 2025... but 2026.... mmmmmm...

Any update because I'm on the same boat.

@@CruzBoxing I've been doing these exercises for about three weeks and it's made a HUGE difference. My pain went from a level 9 to like a 0.5 or even a zero pain level within a week of daily exercises. If I miss a day or 3 it starts to hurt again a bit but I've been able to walk barefoot on hardwood floor for the last four days which is something I haven't done in years. If you haven't tried them yet, please do. This is the only thing that's worked for me and I've tried everything.

@@CruzBoxing I also stopped wearing zero drop shoes and just looked for wide toe box shoes with an arch which I think helped too but not as much as doing these. Realistically I could probably wear zero drop at this point but don't wanna accidentally end up in the same boat again lol

My case was relatively mild so I could do the exercise at a lower volume to begin with, but I could absolutely believe that people with a more serious case would not be able to do this exercise from the get go.

I only ever got it on my left side. You should do exercises in the same way at the same volume and intensity on both sides, so you don't develop muscle imbalances.

@@WestieRunnerI thought as much. Sorry if this is tackled in the comments somewhere below but have you tried any massaging techniques either directly on the tendon or down the muscle itself? Do you have any other recommendations to supplement this daily routine? Ive only had this for around 6 months and its definitely ‘early stage’ or ‘stage 1’ as it seems to be defined. Thanks again.

@@kieranmann5622 I tried massage of the muscle itself in the calf and of the sore areas in the medial surface of the foot. My experience was that it gave some temporary relief from the sensation but didn't really seem to help. Do the exercises twice a day and don't try to run in zero drop shoes or other shoes which you feel aggravate the problem; for me that was my pair of Saucony Endorphin Speed and my pair of Altra Lone Peaks. Good luck!

Great to hear, keep going!

Did you have pain or discomfort after doing them and then it got better?

My suggestion is that yes, you should because it balances muscular development and coordination on both sides of your body. My hypothesis is that by not doing so, you're going to create musculoskeletal imbalances which will lead to other problems further down the line.

Hey, I know it might sound crazy, but you should look into TMS, and read the book “Healing Back Pain” by Dr. John Sarno. The body heals itself from injuries, and small structural abnormalities shouldn’t cause intense pain, you walked around your whole life before switching to zero drop shoes just fine, and I assume you’ve attempted to heal your feet for a long time. I also have ankle pain, but I’m just now realizing that it is connected to my TMS. I suffered from life-ruining back pain for several years, I was completely devastated and desperate. I finally read that book and it began my healing journey. It took a while, but very quickly I was able to let go of much of the emotional distress and anxiety caused by the pain, which is one of the worst parts about it. If you consider yourself a high strung individual, if you’re a bit of a hypochondriac like me, and if you’ve been through a lot in life and emotionally stuff your life problems down and avoid thinking about them, I’d say it’s very likely you could be suffering from TMS. You can read about the theories as to why and how it works but there’s a lot of success stories online of people curing chronic pain of all different types after learning about TMS.

Thank you! Finally made it under 3.

Yeah, it was a pretty toasty day!

@@WestieRunner it was carnage! I did the half as a marathon pace workout in the build up to Wellington, with a long warm up and cool down and had to end the cool down early with cramp so bad I had to call for help to get up...(and of course, Wellington was cancelled 4 days before the race)

No. If possible, do the first two standing exercises without steadying yourself against the wall. If you can't quite do that yet, it's OK to steady yourself now and then, but try to do it less over time until you can do the exercises without doing so.

Great to hear. Keep going!

I took a break after the acute injury but started to run again once I'd worked out the exercises a while later. The injury didn't really get any better while not running. It was only strengthening which made things any better.

Started 10pm on 12th July and finished 9:27pm the following night. Amazing experience but hard AF.

I was told by dr its ok to run, but if I'm suffering pain wise the day after to wait more. Did 3 jogs this week, and only felt pain while running the day after but not while walking. Just tried these exercises and ngl it feels alot better already

Great stuff! Hopefully we'll be returning to a course a bit more like the original next year. I'm signed up for the 100 mile.

I had flareups on the road to recovery, but I could usually trace them back to something specific like a new pair of shoes or an awkward landing while out on a run. As long as the flare ups are reducing in frequency over time, then I wouldn't worry too much. Maybe try and identify anything which might be causing the flare ups? For me it was running in a particular pair of shoes.

@@WestieRunner did you happen to find higher stack shoes cause more flare ups? Im thinking my superblasts aren’t serving me here lol

@@Person64479 it was the opposite for me - Anything with a zero drop seemed to make it worse. Stability shoes and higher drop seemed to be less likely to cause issues. There were exceptions though - the Saucony Endorphin series shoes definitely made it worse despite having an reasonably high stack height.

@@WestieRunnerAh interesting. Just curious are you completely healed from this now?