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I’ve woken up the last several days with both of my achilles tendons feeling tight. The feeling has returned after a long hiatus – probably a few months ago was the last time I noticed this same feeling. It would make sense though as I was previously much more active about using myofascial release to loosen up the musculature in my legs. 

With that in mind, I made sure to “roll out” my legs before I went to run around and wow, I had forgotten how effective those techniques are. I will be getting to one particular technique that has worked wonders for me. But first, I wanted to talk about why we have tight achilles tendons in the first place. 

It is actually our footwear that causes most of the discomfort we experience in our achilles tendons today. Let’s take a look at why this is:

The shoes we wear are made with several interesting features that I could only assume were intended to be solutions to a problem, however, they are now the problem itself. 

The First Problem

The first feature is the elevated heel. Almost all footwear available on the market today comes with a built-in, elevated heel.

Whether or not you can see it from the outside, we have all been wearing some form of high heels nearly our whole life. This includes men’s and women’s shoes from running to dress shoes; the heel sits higher than the ball of the foot. 

Heel elevation is a problem for many reasons, but primarily because it unintentionally shortens all of the musculature on the back of your leg.

If you plantarflex your foot (point the toes downward) you can see and feel that the achilles tendon shortens up. This is completely fine and natural when your foot is active, but not when it is sitting in a shoe that holds it in the shortened position artificially.

When it comes to your muscles, shortness equals tightness. With all the time we spend in our shoes each day, that’s a lot of time your achilles tendon is subjected to this uncompromising position. 

The Second Problem

The second feature of our shoes I wanted to talk about is called the toe spring. The toe spring, similarly to what goes on in the heel of the shoe, is the elevation of the toes that has been built into the shoe.

Just like the other end of the foot, this is problematic because it artificially raises the toes and holds them there without them being engaged at all. But now, instead of shortening muscles on the back of the leg, it shortens the muscles from the top of the foot (toe extensor muscles) all the way up the front of the leg along the shin bones. 

This is where things get interesting because from what it sounds like, the muscles on the top of the foot and front of the leg should not be making my achilles tendon any tighter. Or shouldn’t they? 

It’s actually the workings of reciprocal inhibition going on between the muscles on the back and front of the leg. The definition of reciprocal inhibition is, straight from Wikipedia, “the process of muscles on one side of a joint relaxing to accommodate contraction on the other side of that joint.”

So what’s happening here is that the tibialis anterior (muscle running along the outside of the shin bone) and the achilles tendon have to play off of each other; when one contracts, the other stretches and vice versa. It happens with every single step you take.

What’s important to consider though is that if your tibialis anterior and some of the surrounding muscles are tight, they can INHIBIT your achilles tendon from stretching and contracting at full length, all because of the toe spring in your shoes. 

How to Stretch the Achilles Tendon Naturally

Since we found a couple major problems in our shoes that are limiting our range of motion, let’s talk about shoe alternatives.

Very simply, there is no replacement for being barefoot. You should be barefoot as much as you possibly can because it will start to naturally reset your foot function.

Your toes and your heels will be lowered back down to the ground, therefore taking away those restrictive platforms from your shoes. Not to mention the additional benefits of letting your toes spread out, building stronger feet, and getting feedback from the ground. 

This is obviously my top recommendation for anyone, but we also have to consider all the times we are required to wear shoes. We need a shoe that has no heel elevation and no toe spring.

Footwear

This is where an alternative type of shoe like a minimalist or barefoot shoe comes into play. This is footwear that, by design, has no elevated heel (they call this zero drop). Some of this footwear still has a toe spring unfortunately so we have to be on the lookout for this.

For this specific criteria, I would recommend a pair of Vivobarefoot shoes. Vivobarefoot is known for offering footwear that mimics being barefoot, with no heel elevation (zero drop) and no toe spring. You can see in the picture the toe is flat on the ground instead of curled upward like a normal shoe.

Another great provider of minimalist footwear is Merrell with options like these. Again these shoes offer a zero drop sole and significantly reduced toe spring.

These two examples are the best ones that I know of and are both from reputable companies. Now you know what to look for in your shoes!

Myofascial Release

The technique that I was referring to earlier is a personal favorite of mine as it has definitely kept me from hurting my achilles tendons.

It involves rolling a small, firm massage ball (very important) and rolling it from top to bottom along your tibialis anterior muscle (just outside of the shin bone).

By “rolling”, I mean more of finding spots that hurt and pinning the ball on them while applying a lot of pressure. This is what will force those adhesions on your muscle tissue to release their tight grip so your muscles can operate at full range of motion again.

Take a look at the post I wrote talking specifically about this technique with pictures and directions included.

Squatting

My last recommendation is to squat more often. When I say squat, I don’t mean a 90 degree squat with weight on your back, I mean with your heels on the ground and your butt as low as it goes. I call it a deep squat, there are many names that go with this style, but I’ll stick with this one.

There are many benefits to deep squatting, but for the purpose of this article, we are going to use it to naturally stretch our achilles tendons.

I wrote an article on the best form to use when taking up this position, but if it’s too uncomfortable, try leaning your back against a wall while doing it or sitting on something low to the ground like a flat yoga block. This position tests your ankle mobility and will stretch your achilles to its full range of motion no matter what level of flexibility you are.