I’m 41, been active and athletic my whole life. Many broken bones, knee surgeries, etc…
I don’t think I’ve ever really torn/tore a muscle.
Question…
on a six mile run, right at the halfway point, my left calf totally seized up. I was able to hobble home. Stretching did not improve the “knot” feeling. It didn’t feel like a cramp.
Next day? I have a big circular bruise on my calf. Right in the rear/center. I’m walking but it’s tender, injury was two weeks ago.
does this sound like a mild tear? I have no experience with tears, just strains and breaks.
Bruise is still there two weeks later, about the size of a baseball.
no idea, but if you figure it out please let me know. I had the exact same symptoms after I pedaled through a cramp and then went as hard as I could to bridge up to an attack. I haven’t been right for 2 months now.
Probably a minor tear and not a major tear. Rest, Ice, light stretching and phyisio will fix you up in no time, …me, I’m still dealing with my tore calf 2 years later.
Ps. I hear pickel juice will help with mid run cramping.
I needed a bunch of ART treatments to finally beat mine (somewhat) into submission. It was semi-chronic, came back the last 2 seasons.
This year, I bagged on doing any run speedwork at all, and so far I haven’t had a serious problem. Yet.
And I’m a big fan of compression socks now (more for recovery after a workout, but also as an ounce of prevention during, sometimes).
A Triggerpoint massage ball worked for me. Stretching was pretty ineffective.
Yea, stretching did nothing. I seem to have relatively normal range of motion with my normal calf stretches, its just kind of…sore. And bruised.
speedwork? Really I burned out so hard from triathlon I don’t know if I’ll ever involve myself in competitive middle distance again, I just run for fitness now and likely will have more marathons in my future.
Its just kind of strange to have a circular bruise in the center of my calf. Feels like the muscle is made of cement. Also its not tender to the touch.
Probably won’t be doing any climbing on the bike but I’m burned out from long distance cycling as well. It’s been a busy decade.
I pull my calves all the time,(age 50) therefore, I wear calf sleeves whenever I run. I am very careful with any sprint work or hill work. You are at the age where this may become a chronic problem for you, as the risk of a torn muscle is higher when you’ve already had a tear. I think calf sleeves help prevent injury, as well as decrease the pain from a pull. Remember: RICE, Rest ,Ice, Compression, and Elevation-the only one that you can use in a race is Compression. They’ve helped me finish 2 IM’s. Good luck!
Been there many times…calf to calf over the last 10 years. yes, it sounds like what’s called a micro tear, better referred to as the ‘calf heart attack’. usually happens to me when my arches are sore or I’ve done too much down hill running. it sucks and for me takes about 6-8 weeks to repair unless you get a steroid shot which I’ve done once before an A-race 70.3 and was able to run pain free only 1 week later. also, mineral deficiency and not drinking enough water lend to this nightmare injury. start taking calcium magnesium before going to bed and see if things get better.
kdw - did you have a tear in your calf? how long was the recovery?
Based on this: http://www.thestick.net/Articles/Calf_%20Heart_%20Attack.htm article, i think i’m dealing with a micro tear in my soleus. the symptoms are identical. this happened to me last week and i’ve been off it since, using the stick to massage 3x day.
i’ve got timberman in a few weeks and want to make sure i can race. if the the injury persists, is there any treatment that can get me through the run like a cortisone shot?
I’m now in season 2 of Mad Calf Disease, and I’ve been particularly careful to prevent it this year… No joy. It’s just something I’ve learned to live with. Ice & vitamin I definitely help, and I’ve started to use compression sleeves more this season for both training & recovery. They seem to help too, but I acknowledge that may all just be in my head. But hey, I’ll take whatever help I can get…
Speaking as someone recovering from a calf strain I can weigh in on this. There are three levels of strains, I had a level 2 with a partial tear. I had no bruising, but very limited mobility after it happened. I tore my gastroc while doing intervals on a track. About 1.5m in it felt like I had been shot with a bb gun in my calf and stretching it did nothing. I’m not a doctor, but it would appear you have a level 3, which is a rupture of the muscle and would cause the bruising you see.
I immediately went to my ortho who put me on a major anti-inflammatory and sent me to the PT. I have been doing 3 appointments with the PT every week for the past month and I can successfully run 1.5m (woopity-doo) without pain, but its on a treadmill. I would recommend seeing a doc immediately and getting started on a therapy regimen. Ice and rest just won’t help you enough with this type of injury.
I’ve seen it referred to as ‘calf heart attack’ too. fitting name, although it’s less catchy than ‘mad calf disease,’ and lacks the double entendre.
happened to me once, a while ago. i was playing sports at the time, and felt a golf ball hit the back of my calf. when i turned around… no golf ball!
rolling it helped - like with a ‘The Stick’ although a normal dowel does just as well.
“kdw - did you have a tear in your calf? how long was the recovery?”
What he describes is pretty much exactly what happened to me. Rest/stretching didn’t seem to be causing the pain to go away, and once I started using the TP stuff the improvement was immediate. I think the TP balls worked better than the stick, and icing was a big help.
If I were you, I would be looking into a sports massage.
After a couple of days using the ball, I was able to ease back into running, just stuff at an easy pace for a while as I could still feel tightness in the calf, but no pain. Eventually, the tightness subsided.
I have not tried it for this injury but I was battling peroneal tendonitis earlier this season and tried it. The biggest issue I had was adhesion. The tape continually fell off from sweat. I shaved my lower leg too but it just didn’t stay on so I never could tell if it was doing any good. I instead used a compression ankle support provided by my podiatrist.
My understanding is the tape is primarily for joint support rather than compression.