I'm 25 years old, female, and overweight. No health problems otherwise. Two years ago, I finally got my butt into exercising and have lost 20 pounds. Initially it consisted of either walking or bike riding, but then I hit a plateau and I decided to finally try running and since November, I have been training to run. I have been doing it slow and am still at a run-walk (where I'll jog for so long and then stop when it gets too strenous and walk).
But lately, and I am wondering if it may have been due to the condition of my shoes that I recently replaced, my left ankle has seemed kind of funny and now I am starting to worry if it may be the start of Achilles tendinitis or something with the ankle. It may not be since I can stand up on my toes and there is no pain, when I wake up or get up after sitting for a long time, there is no pain, no swelling or bruising or anything, and it doesn't hurt when I squeeze the area (just makes my blood run cold to touch that area). But I noticed that when I do any type of ankle exercise, this ankle cracks A LOT. If I do the same exercise on my right ankle, it hardly, if ever, cracks. And a lot of times I get the feeling in my ankle like when you need to crack your knuckles and rolling the ankle around will relieve it. But no pain. And then if I flex my foot with my toes pointing down, and I know this sounds really weird, sometimes there is a feeling in the back and towards the left that is so mild, I can't even tell if it is actually pain. Just maybe like a pressure....almost like the feeling of needing to crack something!
All I know is now I am afraid to go out and run for fear of tearing or snapping the Achilles tendon or doing some type of other damage. I do warm up for 5 or more minutes before I run and cool down for about the same. I do stretch, although maybe not as much as I should. I really want to be a runner, though, and have been dreaming of becoming one for many years. I do have new, much better shoes now. I'm thinking of maybe just taking this week off and seeing if it gets better. I have been trying ankle stretching and strengthening exercises, although I am hesitant on doing them as well since I have heard people say before they ended up doing even more damage doing them. I know this is something I should be asking a doctor, but right now that is not really an option- but does it sound like it could be anything I should be concerned about?
Thanks,
Nikki