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I’ve been in your shoes before.
I grew up playing just about every sport, but eventually I found my passion in track and cross-country.
I loved the purity of it — the harder I worked, the better I became. My success didn’t depend on anyone else. That lone-wolf mentality made me feel unstoppable.
But the same thing that drove me to succeed also made me vulnerable. I didn’t know how to ask for help. I thought it showed weakness.
I thought being tough meant pushing through pain, and as a result, I had nearly every running-related injury you could imagine from during my high school into my college career.
Part of it was me not wanting to ask for help. But part of it was also that no one around me really knew how to pull me back when I needed it.
I had to be "tough," the grinder, the one who never quit — but what I actually needed was someone to sit me down and say:
“Being tough isn’t helping you, it's hurting you.”
That wake-up call didn’t come until early in my professional career as an athletic trainer. I luckily had a supervisor who saw that mentality and called me out; forced me to face it. I’m so thankful she did, because if she hadn’t, I would have continued that pattern, and even if it made me successful in some areas, it would have ruined other parts of my life.
It changed everything for me. Not just how I approached my own health, but how I treat my patients.
I realized that recovery isn’t just about exercises and treatment plans — it’s about the human connection. You have to meet people where they are, connect with them, and earn their trust so they don’t feel like they’re going at it alone.
If you’re someone like me — maybe driven, but a little stubborn — I get it.
And I want you to know: you don’t have to do it alone. Asking for help isn't weakness, it's the mature form of strength.
If you need more than just a handout of exercises, if you need a human to guide you through recovery and keep you from sabotaging your own progress, I can be that person .
Achilles Tendon Pain- Real Solutions in Middletown & Wallingford CT
Let’s Talk About Achilles Tendon Pain (And How to Actually Beat It)
So tonight I wanted to share some thoughts on Achilles tendinopathy. This is something I see a lot of in my runners and my pickleball players. And here’s the thing: it’s not just about pain when you’re out on the road or on the court. It bleeds into everyday life.
When your Achilles flares up, suddenly walking down the stairs in the morning hurts and starts your day off on a bad note. You skip social outings at run club and pickleball because you don’t want to limp around. You get irritable. You stop feeling like you. And all because simply because your Achilles is irritated.
So, my goal here is to give you some detail, a little troubleshooting, and some clarity. I give you this from the perspective not only a physical therapist an athletic trainer, but also someone who has had this happen himself.
Two Types of Achilles Trouble
When we evaluate Achilles tendon pain, the first thing I look at is: where are we in the process?
Acute (tendinitis): sudden flare-up, often after doing way more than your body was used to.
Chronic (tendinosis): that nagging pain that never really goes away, flares up when you push too hard, and just keeps hanging around.
Example: I recently had a patient come back from a trip recently — amazing trip, tons of walking, like 10 miles a day. Not usually a big walker outside of golf. He comes home, tees it up on the course, and boom — the Achilles flares up. He thought it was just the golf at first, but really, his body just hit its breaking point after all that vacation mileage and that day of golf was just the final straw. That’s a classic acute case.
On the flip side, I’ve got runners who’ve been in this cycle for months or years — pain eases up, they start to feel good, then they ramp up speed or mileage and it’s right back again. That’s tendinosis. The tendon thickens, doesn’t remodel properly, and it never feels quite like it used to.
Location
The other thing we’ve got to figure out is where the pain is.
Mid-portion: a little higher up the tendon.
Insertional: right where it attaches to the heel bone.
Why it matters: insertional cases don’t always tolerate the same exercises. Too much stretching or dropping into deep eccentrics can actually make things worse in the early phases.
The Big Mistakes I See
Here’s where people get into trouble trying to manage this on their own:
Rest → Back to 100% → Flare. Rest feels good. Anti-inflammatories calm things down. You think you’re in the clear. Then you go right back to full activity, and it comes roaring back.
Stretching the heck out of it. That tight feeling makes you want to stretch, but aggressive stretching can just keep irritating it.
YouTube DIY. I can’t tell you how many times people come in saying, “I’ve tried everything on YouTube.” And yeah, there’s good stuff out there — but unless it’s tailored to your body, your sport, and your history, it’s hit or miss.
Looking for quick fixes. Braces, taping, injections — they can feel good in the short term, but they don’t rebuild the tendon. And if you don’t remodel the tendon with Heavy Slow Resistance or Eccentrics, the problem comes back. Every. Single. Time.
What Actually Works
Here’s the good news: there is a proven way forward.
1. Tendon Loading
This is the gold standard. Heavy, slow resistance or eccentric exercises, gradually progressed, are what remodel the tendon.
2. Load Management
I don’t like telling people to stop doing what they love unless we absolutely have to. The trick is finding the right level and volume where you can keep moving without making it worse. For example, if running 40 miles per week provokes pain, but 20 miles per week does not then let’s try to make progress in rehab while keeping mileage at 20.
3. Supplementary Tools
Manual therapy, heel lifts, taping, dry needling, shoe changes — none of these are magic bullets, but they can stack together to reduce pain so your exercises become less painful and more effective.
4. Patience & Frequency
Achilles tendons are slow to adapt. We’re talking 8–12 weeks minimum in most cases. That’s why I see patients once a week for hands-on work and progressions, and then guide them virtually the rest of the time. Daily PT visits aren’t necessary — your tendon needs time between sessions to adapt.
5. Return-to-Sport Specificity
This is the step that gets skipped the most. You don’t just want to be pain-free walking around the house — you want to sprint, cut, play at the kitchen line, or run long distances. That means sport-specific drills have to be part of your rehab. Miss that, and you’ll only ever get 70–80% better.
The Bottom Line
Achilles tendon pain can be brutal — but it’s fixable. Here’s what to remember:
Rest alone isn’t enough.
Stretching aggressively usually backfires.
Quick fixes don’t last.
Loading the tendon (progressively) is the gold standard.
Full recovery takes weeks, not days.
If you’ve been fighting this pain for more than 2–3 weeks and it’s not improving, that’s your cue to get professional help. And not just any help — find someone who understands your sport, your goals, and how to tailor a plan for you.
That’s exactly what we do at Outlet Health Solutions. If you’re tired of living at 70%, if you want to get back to feeling like yourself again, let’s set up a free consultation. Because you deserve to get back to your outlet — 100%.
Supporting Article
“Comparison is the thief of joy”
The other day, I ran my first timed mile in years. I clocked a 5:39—off of just running a few miles here and there each week. And honestly, it felt great.
But then my mind went to my younger self. Back in college, I ran a 4:04 for 1500m. And the thought hit me: “Wow, I could have just lapped myself.”
In that moment, I went from feeling proud to feeling discouraged.
Every time I catch myself making a comparison like that—one that pulls me into a downward spiral—I try to spin it back up by remembering the bigger picture. At 36, I’ve got three kids, a full-time job, and all of life’s stress to juggle. And I’m still able to get out there, carve out time for myself, and put up a pretty decent mile. That’s worth being proud of.
This same mental trap shows up in rehab all the time.
Maybe you’re finally moving pain-free after an injury. You’re back on the court or on the road, and for a moment you feel good… until your brain reminds you how fast you used to be, how much farther you used to run, how many balls you used to chase down.
Consider this reframe:
👉 Each pain-free day is a win.
👉 Consistency is what rebuilds capacity—not one heroic workout.
👉 The first training cycle back isn’t about finding your ceiling, it’s about creating a floor.
Too often, people try to push to see “how far they can go” right away. That leads to peaks and valleys—progress followed by setbacks. Instead, you need to let your body stack training cycles. That’s how you go from little wins to big ones, without getting knocked back down.
If you’re stuck in that cycle of comparison and frustration while trying to come back from injury, message me. Let’s talk about how to get you back on track—so you can not just get back to where you were, but build something even stronger.
Stop comparing, start reflecting.
Steady Progress to Bridge the Gap-
Transitional Rehab in Middletown, Wallingford, and Cheshire
One of the biggest mistakes people make after rehab is thinking, “I’m good now, I’ll just get back to training.”
That’s usually when the ups and downs start. You feel better → you push hard → symptoms creep back → you slow down again. Peaks and valleys.
But this cycle can be avoided.
Once you’ve built a foundation with in-person sessions, you don’t always need someone standing next to you counting reps anymore. What you do need is guidance from the same person who helped get you healthy in the first place — someone who can help you adjust your training volume, catch blind spots, and answer the “should I be doing this or that?” questions before they turn into setbacks.
This is why our model tapers from hands-on sessions to more flexible virtual guidance. Because long-term success isn’t about someone holding your hand every step of the way. It’s about having the right person available to keep you moving forward — steadily, without the rollercoaster.
Proactive Care > Reactive Care in North Haven, Wallingford, Durham
Here’s the reality: you have two choices when it comes to your health.
Reactive care: You wait until pain forces you to stop. By then, training has to be scaled back, you’re stuck doing corrective basics, and it takes weeks (or months) to get back to where you were.
Proactive care: You notice the small nags and don’t ignore them. You check in before things break down. With a mix of manual therapy and corrective exercise, we can keep your body moving well, prevent setbacks, and keep you chasing your goals without interruption within a session or two.
The difference?
Reactive = starting over.
Proactive = staying on track.
Most athletes and active people don’t realize how much easier it is to stay healthy than it is to come back from injury. Proactive care keeps you doing what you love — and keeps frustration out of the process.
Think of me as your go-to teammate for long-term health and performance.
Smarter Care in Westbrook CT
For people who love to go, go, go, being active feels like the only way forward. But sometimes, the harder we push, the more problems we create for ourselves—and that’s where recovery comes in.
I had a client recently who was telling me that he does his home exercises four days in a row. By day four, he always feels like he needs a break because his body starts to flare up.
He’s a former baseball player, so I framed it this way:
“Would you have done heavy upper-body lifting four days in a row during your playing days?”
He laughed and said, “No way—that wouldn’t let me recover.”
So I asked, “Then why push your rehab exercises that hard, that often?”
At first, he thought doing more would get him better, faster. But when we paused, he realized recovery wasn’t something holding him back—it was actually the missing piece.
We created a new game plan: alternating exercise days and recovery days, or splitting workouts (core → legs → rest). That simple shift turned his week into a sustainable cycle rather than a grind.
The next time I saw him, he told me his pain was so much more controlled. He didn’t feel like he needed to take three days off in a row—because he was already recovering in the right way.
The lesson? More isn’t better. Smarter is better. Recovery is not a waste of time—it’s part of the process. And sometimes it takes an outside perspective to put things in context and help you line up your training with your long-term goals.
That’s what working with the right physical therapist can do.
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