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Ankle Pain: FHL Tendonitis (AKA Dancer's Tendonitis) Recovery?

Original Post
MattH · · CO mostly · Joined Sep 2011 · Points: 1,354

After a month of doing a lot of long days of scrambling and climbing this past month in fairly soft shoes, I seem to (according to my orthopedic/sports Dr) have come down with a case of Flexor Hallucis Longus (FHL) tendonitis (the tendon that flexes the big toe) at the tarsal tunnel (back underside of the ball of the ankle). 

It came on surprisingly quickly and unexpectedly after (what I thought was) a fairly typical gym session. I went from a baseline of daily 2mi runs, regular gym climbing, and weekly outdoor 'big days' of long multipitch and scrambles to barely being able to take a few steps.

Anyone else had this before? A week later and I can walk OK (mostly - the 'push off' of a fast walk still hurts a little) but I can't run, hike on uneven surfaces, or even put on a climbing shoe, let alone climb. My calf muscles are fine and it doesn't hurt at all at rest, but even the motion of flexing my big toe in the air through the full ROM causes pretty strong ankle pain. Trying to stay optimistic but I can't imagine this is going to heal up any time soon. Doctor says 6 weeks but I'm suspicious.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

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