Today, the Beijing 2008 Olympics track and field event carried on in “Bird’s Nest”, Liu Xiang, the Chinese hurdles superstar, entered the playground together with other athletes of Group 6. After passing four hurdles in the second run during warm-ups, Liu Xiang got into his crouch on the ground, seemingly something wrong, heading for the tunnel in hobble. As reported, it was Liu's injury in his heel that hurt him again in today’s warm-up. And Liu Xiang had to pull out with regrets after the first gun for his injury before the start of the match.

Liu’s pullout stunned spectators both in the stadium and in front of TV— the heel injury is so severe that the Olympic champion had to give up the chance to defend his title.

It is known that it has been 7 years since Liu Xiang suffered his heel injury. After Liu Xiang entered the Olympic village on August 16, he was checked by experts in hospital. MRI showed an inflammation at the root of his right Achilles tendon. Liu's foot bone is more protrusive than ordinary people. Therefore, the skin on heel was broken, then blistered and now becomes inflamed.

Achilles tendon, the large tendon at the back of the ankle joint, connecting muscles at the back of the leg to calcaneus, is the essential tool for people's movements such as walking, running and climbing, etc. Achilles tendon turns out fragile when inflammation appears. If an athlete runs despite the Achilles tendon inflammation, s/he may feel painful; or even worse, his/her Achilles tendon may break, which will be a big trouble for the athlete.

Tenositis is categorized as bacterial and non-bacterial, but due to comparatively inadequate blood supply in tendon, its healing time is relatively long.

Tenositis, a common disease in clinics, appears in people who often take loading activities such as running and climbing. If there are some lesions appeared in skin, bacteria, most with low toxicity, will stay to prolong the healing time, leaving an unfavorable effect.

As to non-bacterial tenositis, we can treat it by means of a rest, ice compressing, drugs and reshaping the shoes. Avoid constant hormone therapy,  in case that spontaneous breakage of tendon occurs.