As many know by now, I've been firmly placed onto the injury couch again, so my next posts will not be about running, or walking, rowing, dancing, stretching, weightlifting 😩 but …. yes … recovery and rehabilitation.
I’ll share my journey to hold myself to account, but also in case it helps anyone else.
So, to navigate this probably growing post, here’s a bit of a table of contents and feel free to skip my rambling sections :
Section 1) 3 Calf strains in 3 years: My contexts and calf strain journeys
Section 2) Summary of medium to long term interventions
Section 3) What to do when pulling a calf muscle
Section 4) Some helpful videos
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SECTION 01 : 3 Calf strains in 3 years: My contexts and calf strain journey
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Calf strains are annoyingly common, and I seem to get one per year on average. They can happen for all sorts of reasons: too much too soon, sudden larger loads, lack of stretching or warm-up, or previous scarring that makes the fascia and muscles not slide over each other as easily as they should. And there is probably much more.
Mine always happen when I walk for longer than usual. Running or rowing have never triggered these. So, there is something to do with the flexibility and possibly previous scarring rather than calf muscle strength. But there is obviously something that I still need to understand and attend to.
As many of you know, I’m a weaker walker than a runner. I run ultra - ultra -ultra slow, but can run consistently and do that three times per week, currently distances between 3 - 5k. I have in the last 3 years trained myself up to 10k three times, but am not there at the moment. And I row at least 5 times a week, so I think my calves are pretty strong by now.
But walking is somehow more difficult, with backaches, and now and again … yes … calf strains.
Over the years, I’ve done quite some sleuthing to understand what was happening.
1️⃣ First, I thought it was to do with frequency of running, as the first pulled calf happened during a phase where I happened to run only once or twice per week. (healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... ) But I think I didn’t get that quite right. The calf strain didn’t appear when running, rather when walking. And yes, one looses a tiny bit of fitness if running only one run per week. Fitness stays fairly stable with two runs per week and one gains strength and fitness with three weekly runs. But it shouldn’t have been the reason for pulling a calf muscle. But it may have contributed a tiny bit.
But the thought of the run-scarcity contributing to my injury got me running three times a week again. And I started to also increase my walking, even doing some more Nordic walking. At that time still with my heavy hiking boots.
2️⃣ So when it happened again, I thought it had maybe more likely to do with the inflexible walking boots I wore whilst walking. Inflexibility at the ankles puts more pressures on other parts of the leg, and I do still believe this did contribute to this calf strain. (See my thoughts on a post, at section “Peg 5” healthunlocked.com/bridgeto... )
An outcome from that experience was that I leaned into ensuring I transferred slowly over to zero-drop, wide toe-box running shoes, but also my walking boots are now Altras flexible Lone Peak boots. I wear them to work now, having found some black ones that go with casual smart work clothes I wear.
The good thing about these shoes is their flexibility, but when calves are tight, walking in zero-drops keeps my calves too tight, I now think. Running has a different stride, and there is almost no point where you have a loaded, straight leg with flexed ankles, but walking does, elongating the calf muscles to a maximum.
3️⃣ So which of the two - gastric of soleus is more stretched? Hmm? That question is actually quite important, in order to understand how to plan one’s recovery. Here’s an academic article just about this very question: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
And thinking about all my calf strains, I think I’m right to suggest that it has affected my gastroc muscles, and not the soleus. Although I did some soleus targeted strengthening not too long ago.
4️⃣ After my 2nd calf strain, I knew there was a likelihood of me having acquired some scaring, which I knew would weaken the calf muscle even more. I started to roll a bit more and we bought a massage gun which - I think - helped immensely.
After that strain, I got into jeffing, training up to 5k again with a jeffing plan by good old runner physio James Dunne. (healthunlocked.com/bridgeto...
I set out on my jeffing plan and fell in love with jeffing. It also had the bonus of being able to record some running podcasts, using the walking sections to record my chatter and music tracks from Spotify for the running sections. Great fun. They can be found here on Spotify (although regrettably, only Spotify paid subscribers can listen to the full song tracks. It seems free Spotify users only get 45sec previews of each song) spotify.link/NroFcdtXqDb .
And whilst I was in spirit, or rather via YouTube, coached and treated by James Dunne, I started to do his dynamic calf stretches between my 5-minute warmup walk and the first running stretch.
The dynamic calf stretches are great, attending to both soleus and gastrocnemius.
James Dunne (2 min) Dynamic Calf Warm-Up For Running
youtu.be/7Zs4hh4cp98?si=6qj...
5️⃣ But what I’ve not been doing is doing any dynamic calf stretches when walking, and I think going forward, that is certainly something I must add to my routines!
So what are the interventions that I have identified so far, and that have worked reasonably well but and which I will continue to take forward?
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SECTION 02 : Summary of medium to long term Interventions
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☆ Do dynamic calf stretches after a 5-min warmup walk and before every run OR WALK
☆ Definitely warm-up, do dynamic calf stretches and stretch after every walk. I may have neglected that in the past.
☆ Wear flexible walking boots
☆ Know your walking limits
☆ Do yoga / Pilates / Tibetan Rites daily for that all-body stretch
☆ Use a roller or massage gun to smooth out those knots
☆ Consider including jeffing if you need to be gentle with your calves whilst running
☆ Adapt slowly when transferring over to zero-drops
☆ Break up your desk-sitting as much as one can. Long time sitting is the worst for tight calves.
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SECTION 03 : My recovery plan
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But let’s get into the advice that I’ve learned and which I’m taking for my own recovery now, once I experienced what must now be my third or fourth calf strain in so many years.
And I will attend to even more strengthening and flexibility than during my last calf strains, as I do not want to be here next year!
As an NHS leaflet suggests: “As healing gets underway, it is important to begin a series of exercises to gently stretch the calf muscle so that it heals back to its full length.”
And I should note, this is relevant for minor calf pulls only, I would think. So if you feel more severe pain or pain that doesn’t stop, best check it out with a specialist.
Here’s an NHS leaflet that is the best I could find from the NHS: tims.nhs.uk/wp-content/uplo...
And here’s the advice I have received.
1️⃣ Phase 1 - days 1 - 9 & Hours after pulling your leg:
If Grade 1 - 2 strain (minor)
- RICE(P)
- I rested
- I iced (Cold compress to accelerate healing (20 min in first 3 days)
- I compressed
- I elevated
- I didn’t need painkillers
Don’t s
• Don’t stretch, which can tear at already torn muscle fibres
• Don’t put heat on it, which increases inflammation and overburdens the system. It then cannot heal.
Do
- Continue Cold compress to accelerate healing (20 min in first 3 days)
- Gentle massage, but if painful, work your way around the tender area.
- Relative rest, e.g. depending on strain, walk slowly or don’t walk at all
2️⃣ Recovery Exercises: (Day 4 - 9 post injury)
This is where I’m at now.
After ca 4-7 days:
• scar tissue builds up, do a cross-fibre massage with your thumbs, getting in there to break any scar tissue up, moving across the fibres (30 sec, if it still hurts, stop and get back to icing)
• One can also use massage gun
• Or one can roll
• When you walk, put a heel wedge in to relief your muscles a bit. This helped enormously. I donned my old 11mm drop New Balance shoes for work. They clashed with my outfit but .. Who cares?
• Where a compression sleeve in the early days of getting back to walking. It also helps with the pain. Alternatively use tapes or bands.
• Do some gentle exercises including ankle rolls, or pushing the wall away with your balls of your feet when sitting straight-legged on the floor
3️⃣ Beyond the early days : Strengthening
I’ll add some helpful video posts below for strengthening and will post about my journey once I’m at that point.
For now, I’m doing ok. And the stint on the IC has certainly afforded me , possibly even motivated me, to attend to my calf strength and ankle flexibility again, and I know ankle flexibility is a weak spot of mine!
From my reading, all my attention on these areas might even help my back aches that I get when walking.
Happy working out everyone!
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SECTION 4 : Some useful videos:
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Bob and Brad (11 min) Calf Tear or Strain. NEVER Do This! Do This Instead to Heal FAST!
youtu.be/E29xkp-_Ogs?si=2zy...
Sports Injuries: Calf Wrap Utilizing an Elastic Bandage (1 min)
youtu.be/-60qQvhXEOM?featur...
The 7 BEST Calf Muscle Strain Recovery Exercises & Stretches! | PT Time with Tim (6 min)
youtu.be/k50hrc5Uadg?si=a4Y...
How to Eliminate Tight Calves FOREVER! | Root Cause Explained & Exercises to Fix (21 min)
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