Don't stretch it at all until you can walk normally and even then I would wait few days/week. Depending on the amount of tissue injured, it could take one to 5 weeks. Patience.

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Good advice.

I'll add that it's really easy to blow it up again if you come back and push before it's ready.

Time, lots of calf strengthening (eccentric and concentric), and when I was able to run, warming up and foam rolling prior was huge (IMO)

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

You need to strengthen it. Eccentric heel drops (straight leg and with a bent knee). Start just on the ground with no weight and build to doing it off of a ledge with a 8-10 lb weight.

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I have a similar issue. I got off a long day of flying to London (I live in San Diego), did a short run after the flight (which I tell everyone not to do) then ran 10 miles the next day. Left Calf was so tight the Achilles got over stretched. It’s been nagging me or should I say stinging pain. I do yoga daily and concentrated on doing things that would loosen the calf but for a week nothing changed. I felt it all day in everything. The only time it didn’t hurt was swimming. Then I remembered I had a Power Dot. I have been using the Power Dot for 4 days now once a day. I would say I now have a 50% reduction in the instance of pain. In other words I don’t notice it all the time, only 50%. I did some strength work yesterday with some dynamic movement (slight pain during) no pain this morning. I’m convinced the Power Dot is speeding up my recovery.

I ran Saturday on a really hard surface in Santa Monica. I wore shoes I knew would not over stretch my Achilles (8mm offset). On the flat section along the beach no pain. As soon as I started up the bike path to the top of the bluff my Achilles screamed so I shut the run down. My plan right now is to run in NYC on Friday. Unfortunately that’s more super hard surface but it’s relatively flat so I’m sure as long as I’m in a firm shoe with at least an 8mm offset I’ll be fine. I’m also convinced 3 more nights of Power Dot and I’ll be pain free. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

I will also add that I have been rolling out my legs. Never where it hurts. I know from years of working on myself and with others that pain often comes from issues either above the chain or below the chain. In my instance below the chain is my foot and above is the calf. I use a lacrosse ball on my plantar and then I also do double lacrosse ball work on my calf. I always reference The Supple Leopard for guidance.

My thoughts on this: Every runner is different. What exactly works for one runner may not work for the next runner. You have to work at it daily measuring the amount of pain. If you do something one night (Yoga, lacrosse ball, electro stimulation, Ice, Aleeve, different set up of running shoes, or something else) and you wake up with less pain continue with it. Do that until you hit a plateau and then move on to another treatment. Eventually the pain will go away. I think patiently aggressive is my term of how I’m treating myself.

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Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed

Im at ten weeks with no running other than a few "test" runs that said Im not ready yet.
Soleus/gastroc injury doing 400 meter repeats back in January.
Could barely walk for the first 5 days but luckily it didn't/doesn't hurt to bike so Ive gotten it tons of riding.
Ive been doing all the rehab (eccentric/concentric strengthening, stretching, massage, ice and heat) and I am pain free but at this point Im going to give it a full 12 weeks before I start to run again.
I had big plans for Powerman Germany on April 25th but now Im just hoping I can compete let alone do well.

How do you do heel drops when stood on flat ground? Surely you need a step or ledge to 'drop' off?

(I agree heel drops are a good idea BTW)

You just don't go past horizontal or negative. It's a starting point and depends how severe the issue is. I've had issues where going past horizontal was painful so I had to start on the ground to keep me from going past that point. Then I could eventually build into doing it off a step/ledge that didn't cause pain.

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I had this last year and Steve is right, the heel drops work (particularly the bent knee ones in my case). Rest did not help.

Here is what worked best for me once the pain is gone. Skip to about 2:00. This targets the soleus (i add 10lbs in each hand for extra resistance). Hope with this helps.


https://www.youtube.com/...wDZySFdseM&t=66s

Thanks everyone! I followed almost all of these recommendations and am good to go. Took about six weeks as advertised!