The Achilles tendon is the strongest tendon in the human body and owes its name to the great, invulnerable warrior of Homer’s Iliad. Invulnerable, that is except at his heel. Greek mythology has it that, Thetis, Achilles’ mother dipped him in the Styx River making him invincible at all points on his body but the heel by which she grasped him as he was being immersed. This proved to be his undoing when Paris, the brother of Hector, shot him in the heel with a poisoned arrow. Continue reading →

“Shin splints” is a waste-basket term to describe any pain that occurs in the leg during exercise. Shin splints is not a diagnosis as there are many causes of leg pain in the athlete, some of which require more urgent treatment than others. Continue reading →