Good morning Slowtwitch!
Was hoping for a little help figuring out what’s going on with my leg this morning. Woke up and the medial side of my right soleus was very bruised. Hurts a little when I poke at the bruise, but no pain at all when I stretch the calf or do calf raises. Went for a slow jog last night as per my PT’s direction (have been working through some knee/IT band issues) and felt great the whole time… calves were quite tired by the end, but nothing horrific. (I am a forefoot striker, so they are usually sore after a run.)
Obviously I will bring this up with my PT tomorrow when I see him, but I was wondering if anyone here has ever had a similar incident and how serious it was. I have done a forum search and it does not seem consistent with Mad Calf Disease/calf death, nor does it seem like a muscle tear/strain (doesn’t hurt to use/stretch the muscle). Attached picture isn’t great (taken with phone) but should give an idea of location and size. Have taken a few ibuprofen this morning, the calf has not swollen up at all.
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6420/img0748om.jpg
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Have you been doing any foam rolling? Sometimes if I get too aggressive using too hard a roller I can get some bruising. Just a though.
I frequently do, but have not in the last few days except along my IT band, so I don’t think that’s it. Interesting idea, though, makes me wonder if I’ve ever bruised myself that way and just not noticed it before.
my cousin, whom i’m ‘asisting’ with her training for her first marathon, experienced the same thing. i, not being a doctor, said she should wear some RX compression socks after her runs and at work while being on her feet all day. she didn’t believe me and went to the DR. he told her she had a busted capillary and she should… wear some RX compression socks fter her runs and at work while being on her feet all day. go figure.
a couple days/weeks (don’t remember now) and she was bruise free
(i can’t see your pictures here at work.)
thanks for the suggestion! I’ll have to see if I can lay my hands on a pair… certainly couldn’t hurt, right?
Yeah, I did it on my IT band. I was using a roller that was too hard/small, I did it way too much one day and the next day I had huge bruises just above my knee on my IT band. I switched to a larger, somewhat softer roller and no more bruising, no more IT pain…
The appearance of bruising like that takes several days to show up. Try to think back 2 or 3 or even more days ago. Did you bang into something and didn’t think to much about it at the time?
I did trip on a coffee table in the dark, but that was the front of my shin… I was carrying a refrigerator into my office yesterday and it sort of scraped the insides of my legs as I squatted it down, maybe that was it?
not done a long run, lost form and kicked inside calf? i do it loads when i’m really tired, usually scrapes rather than bruises though.
it’s possible, I suppose, but I certainly wasn’t aware of it. you’d think it’d be on both sides… I HOPE I don’t run that asymmetrically.