A couple weeks ago I took part in a flag football game w/ a bunch of guys at work. After about an hour of play, I felt some twitching at my right calf muscle (outer part of the muscle). Nothing too bad, so I kept playing (bad idea, I know). About an hour after the game was over, my calf got really tight and caused me to limp around.
Once home and wrapped it up w/ an ice pack and took some Advil for the pain. I took close to 2 weeks off from running and finally went for a easy 2 mile run on Thursday morning to test it out. It felt great, so the following day, Friday, I decided to up the pace a little and go a bit longer. No more than a mile into the run, I felt a big knot in the same calf and was forced to limp back home. I iced it and took some Advil. By the evening, I was walking fine w/ some slight soreness in the calf.
The next day I went for a 50 mile road ride w/o any discomfort. The muscle pain is only during my runs.
So my questions are… how long should I wait for the muscle to completely heal? When do you think I should start running again and at what speed? Any advice on how to help it heal faster? massage and stretch it?
Currently, my calf feels OK w/ some tightness and doesn’t really bother me or cause me limp around.
Calf strains are a major pain in the butt, and you don’t want to mess around with them.
Run in water only. Take time off until you can walk with NO pain at all. Then wait 2 more weeks before you start to run again. And start out by doing a run 1 min/walk 1 min…each week building up the amount of time running.
I am no physio, but I would suggest only short easy running to start with (pain as a guide). Mild stretching - don’t straining through over stretching - more smaller stretches. Ice regularly and keep elevated when possible. Compression bandage may help. mild massage may help. If it sort of feels OK, try a few slow calf raises - 2 legs going up and 1 leg going down - and go down slow and controlled (the important part!). They do take a while to fully recover (6 weeks usually)
As soon as they become available get a Biopulser. My wife has a friend who has an older prototype. It is great for strained muscles. It pounds the crap out of them–hurts like HELL, but it calms the spasm. When it doesn’t hurt so much anymore, do some eccentric calf exercises witth knee straight and knee bent.
I’ve had a pull that kept coming back again and again. I’m no physical therapist but what’s worked for me eventually was no running for many weeks and no stretching. When you start running, run very slow for a mile every other day, then a mile per day. For me it was when I jumped up to a 3 mile run that I had to start all over again. So increase mileage gradually with no large miles in any given day.
My strain initially happened on a treadmill, of all things. Calf just knotted up and I barely stayed upright. Like you said, though, it felt okay later, and I could ride with no issues. I gave it two weeks, then tried another EASY treadmill run. Got a half mile and the damn thing knotted up again. Okay… I gave it three weeks. Same thing happened, this time at a quarter mile.
So I went to see a doc, and got the “calf strain” diagnosis, with the perscription of PT. 8 weeks of massage, ice massage, TENS therapy, and a whole load of exercises, and I was finally cleared to run. Haven’t had any problems until the OTHER calf went two weeks ago. I guess I’m about ready to try that treadmill again, eh? No… I’m going to give it to the end of the year. I’ve been doing most of the exercises, and self-massaging.
Take home message, though… Even after this heals up, be RELIGIOUS about stretching and massaging the calves. Both before and after your runs.