So I did a sprint race this last weekend in which I finished 3rd OA the year before. I came off the bike seven minutes faster than in 2006 and I’m feeling pretty damn good about chasing down the hotshots in front of me then… SPROING!!! I get a calf strain.
This is the second time I’ve strained a calf muscle this year, and it has happened now on both legs. The first time was in February and it took 2 months to heal. And even since then that leg hasn’t felt 100%. Now I have to deal with both calfs being f’ed up. I have never had this problem before. What am I doing wrong? Could it be too much biking? ( I only ride between 120-150 mi a week) poor nutrition, or psycho-symatic (sp.?) issues with turning 30 next month?
Either way it bums me out. Has anyone else had any chronic calf issues like this?
I’ve had problems for the past two years. I’m finally going to my doctor, I’m hoping it may be my age (48) and need for orthotics as it is the inside right calf muscle. It has been really frustrating for me as I can only run twice a week and cannot do any kind of speed workouts. I did a race this weekend and while my run time was ok (43) the calf was always on the verge of going.
Have you ever tried active release therapy? It’s a relatively new procedure (I think)…anyway, it’s a deep tissue “massage” where you actively move your muscle as it is being treated. I have been plagued by calf issues for the past 6 months and a training partner has had calf issues that put him out of the sport for years.
Several chiropractors are doing this, and thus, may be covered by insurance. There are also many massage therapists that do the procedure. Check out this website: http://www.activerelease.com/
Had the same problem off an on for the last 3 years. My best advice at the moment to is radically increase your electrolyte intake. I’m using Hammer Heed every day now. I also noticed some running shoes are better than others about the calf problem. However, I’m still trying various ones to figure that one out. Best of luck. Paul
I also had a similar experience with my calfs. The ART idea is extremely helpful, short of finding a good practitioner; focus on stretching, making sure you don’t skip the Soleus muscle (you must have your knee bent to effectively stretch it), strength (focus on the eccentric contraction as well), and get yourself “The Stick.” This product is was what did it for me. You can replicate the message it does, but the “The Stick” makes it so easy and simple. Search it on-line. Every time you get another strain in the muscle, the resulting blood calcifies and weakens that muscle. You have to break up that calcium and the scar tissue before you can stretch and rebuild it properly. For me, this combination fixed the problem rather quickly and completely.
This is a case of sample size =1, but maybe you want to have yourself checked out for a leg-length discrepancy. I kept blowing out my right calf as well. After PT, with some ART, eccentric drops, etc., I got a scanogram, and it turned out my right leg is 1 cm longer than the other. What had developed were a number of things: a bit of sciatica in my lower back on the right side, a much stronger left leg than right leg(the right calf is noticeably smaller than the left), glute weakness on the right side, the muscles and hamstrings are much tighter on that side as well.
Now, most doctors, etc., dismiss an LLD under 2 cm as nothing, as “most everyone has something”, but when you consider how much a 1 cm change in your hip angle can throw everything off, it is huge. I have a touch of scoleosis(sp?), and my muscles have always been sore in the upper right part of my back. This has all been from years of compensation for the LLD.
I’ll let rroof give more detail, but the one thing the scanogram confirms is whether it’s a functional or structural LLD. Functional is muscular, and strecthing, strengthening, etc., should correct things. Structural means the bones, and that’s where something else comes in. For me it was orthotics, with a 4mm lift in the left orthotic. It could have been more, but he didn’t want to go overboard on the correction. The result? No calf problems with a much greater run mileage than ever before. I had a bit of a glute issue but strengthening exercises have taken care of that.
It may be off base, but if nothing else works, check out the LLD. ART is very good, and I agree with everyone else that it has great benefits.
yes, good though with the LLD. Also important to realize the diff between structural (unusual unless from a fracture, joint replacement surgery, etc.) vs. functional (very common). I rarely utilize a heel lift in a functional LLD - but if I do it is a “trial and error” type only since the literature does not support this.
Most runners with chronic calf issues are simply “too tight” and therapy/massage/etc. is your best option. Chronic compartment syndrome type issues usually should be ruled out as well.
I’ve been having calf problems (both legs) for 4 years now. When running, my calf feels like it “grabs” and there is no way to continue running. Typically, it will be sore for 24 hours, then the pain will go away unless I try to run. After 4 days or so, I can start running again, but slowly and for short periods. Over a period of weeks, I can return to my normal level of activity until it happens again. Some of the things I have tried:
Others seem to like this, but I don’t care for it.
Accupuncture
I did this for about 10 weeks and was injury free during and for 5 months after. The problem was that the treatments were becoming increasingly painful. When jury duty interrupted my weekly sessions, I never went back. I don’t know why it worked, but it did seem to work.
I use the Quadballer on a big piece of foam daily. I go both directions on the calf muscle from the foot to the back of the knee. It seems as though I have been trouble free as long as I do this and stretch daily.
I followed this protocol after my last calf injury 8 weeks ago. The article describes my injury perfectly and the treatment makes sense. So far so good.
I have been through this on and off since 1998 with my left calf. I think the problem is inadequate healing. It seems that it is healed enough, and then I build up my training a bit too fast, and BAM, back to square one.
In fact after a year of no problems, I screwed it up again a couple of weeks ago–always through impatience when I am in good cardiovascular fitness and feel ready to ramp up faster than my leg can take.
I think age does have something to do with it as well. I hurt mine when I was 30 and it wasn’t the same as being 21, when everything seemed to heal in a few days.
RR,
I have been using a borrowed prototype of a Biopulser on and off for a year. (When I can get my hands on it.) Supposedly, the REAL thing is supposed to be out soon. It is great for all kinds of muscle cramping and soreness. It ‘saved’ my IMAZ. It sounded like BS, but the damned thing works.
I’ve told them to put me down for one when they come out. Their are supposed to be ~$100.
I don’t know about scalar wave stuff. This just has a piston that ‘vibrates’ the muscle by bouncing up and down on it at around 15cycles per second. The muscle just relaxes and the pain subsides. The amplitude is controlled by varying the number of washers between the body of the machine and the piston. It’s ridiculously simple.
A yoga friend of my wife’s lent it to her (he knows the inventor) for some injuries that she had, so I tried it on a hamstring I had injured in the spring of '06. (right before a race of course.) I limped through that one and it was still hurting before the next one, so I tried it and the spasm and pain immediately subsided. It returned a few more times, but improved and I was able to compete. I used it multiple times on my old and sketchy hams and calves last year. I’m convinced after this experience that most of the pain from muscular injuries is from the spasm, because, after using the machine the pain is nearly gone and the injured muscle fibers relax. ???
I got a calf spasm 5 days before IMAZ and was able to borrow it to go to Tempe. I used it mornings to relax the muscle which tightened up overnight and in the evening before bed. There was a little residual spasm on race day, so I hit it before the race. I had a little soreness and incipient spasm on the run, especially later, but not big cramps. Granted it’s anecdotal, but it nearly always works. The muscle just ‘melts.’ ???
I also use it for back and spasms–with more washers.
It’s terrible science since I don’t have any controls and only an n=2–my wife and me.
I sure would like to get one of my own so that I wasn’t dependent of borrowing it and to try on my tri buddies with muscle injuries.
P.S. I don’t personally know the inventor (a chiro) and I don’t have any stake in the company.
By the way, if you haven’t been doing resistance work to strengthen you gastrocs and solei, as well as stretching them. When they’re better some pliometrics might help prevent more injury. go slow.
Ah, no that sounds a lot better! That scalar wave energy stuff is just … ah … well, 'ya know!
One of my favorite things is a simple rolling pin or deep massage after a big race like a marathon, so I’d love to give that piston thing a try as well! Sure loosens me right up as well.
I find that when I run on anything but level ground (e.g. on a sloped street near the gutter or on a sloped running path) my right calf starts to cramp at about 5 miles. The only thing I can do is run on the left rather than on the right. It seems to work.
I will add, about the biopulser, 2 days after IMAZ I was so sore that I couldn’t go down the 2 steps between our bedrooms and the rest of the house. I started out with the machine on the lightest setting. I could hardly stand it. I came back to it several times and was finally able to use the second lightes setting. I worked my way up and down the quads, then the hams and finally the calves. This is VERY slow, since you have to stay in one spot until that spot relaxes, then move, and again.
Anyway, after that I could walk, climb, sit, step down without pain. It was magic. The next day I had to use it in the morning. After that I was good.
Very similar to my issues. Go beyond ART and try Graston Technique. Magic!!! but painful during treatment. The minute you get up from the table it is better. Find someone skilled in it.(it’s also very inexpensive).
Thanks for all the replies, I think I’m going to give the stick a shot–it at least seems alot cheaper and less complicated than some of the other remedies. I’m going to quit racing too (not that I can run at the moment) until at least late August.
Maybe that, with some stetching and strength exercises will finally heal these legs. Still come fall running season starts and I’ll be dissapointed if I can’t race well with my lungs and heart in decent shape. I’m neither into nor caring for this body betrayal act.