Anyone tear their calf muscle before?

Misiaxcore

Kind of venting/ranting: I tore mine last August and it STILL hurts. I feel this is totally ridiculous. I let it rest for a month when I went to two separate doctors and they both told me that was the most likely case (and one used to be a sports doctor). I let it rest again for all of April during exams - the only workouts I did then was walking from the coffee pot to my desk lol.

I've been trying to complete the C25K (got to week 7 yay!) but think running is what's triggering the pain. It's really affecting my swimming (I swim competitively). Even when I haven't been running it will sometimes hurt in the water.

Anyone else go through this? Did it really take nearly a year for it to heal? I always feel like I have to be extra extra gentle to that one leg - and now I'm getting foot problems on that leg as well (I have extremely flat feet and think both might be affecting each other?).

I'm thinking of going back to my doctor, but not sure what the heck he can do for me.

Jani2416

I didn't, but my husband did, he is in physiotherapy...they saw the tear on an ultrasound. He just started physio....the therapist said it'll probably take months to heal.

bikinibeliever

I tore mine about 3 months ago, maybe 4. The first month was horrible. 2nd month was getting better. By the 3rd month mostly okay. I am almost back to normal. Certain movements are still bad, like standing on my tip toes, still not good! Good luck.

mlb929

From experience and research, and dr's - my experience was that I injured my calf working out, yet continued to train for a half marathon, I ran it with my sore calf. There are varying degrees of tears and it depends on your tear, some take surgical intervention.

I ran my half marathon with a bruise, tender, sore calf. I had major surgery later that week, so was out of exercise for 6 weeks. After 3 weeks, I wanted to start running again from surgery... they said OK. My calf was OK, but still somewhat sore. I worked with a massage therapist to assist in healing. My orthpod told me simply to stay off it 8 full weeks. I didn't, but massage therapist literally work on it for an hour 2x per week to keep the scar tissue from forming. It worked well for me.

Make sure you have good shoes. Now I foam roll - with a rumble roller, heavy duty foam rolling every time I run. I still have calf issues at times, if I've ran too many downhills. But I'm now marathon training, it's a year later, and I've ran 8 halfs between the calf injury and now.

Alternating heat and cold works wonders too as well as compression socks.

carreen

I tore mine, and it took almost a year to heal enough for me to be really active again. Even now (2 years later), it still bothers me a little if I don't stretch out before exercise, but it no longer keeps me from being able to be active. Mine looks ridiculous though; it's half the size of my other calf muscle.

BubbleGumKisses

oooo you have flat feet too?! Yeah, It does sound like they feed off of eachother...
I tore my calf before, before I started being healthy, but never took anytime to heal it... and i do have flat feet...
I was always wearing high heels, and the muscle had gotten contracted, one night I had taken my heels off, and as I put my flatfoot on the flat floor, it ripped... all black and blue for weeks.... pain was unbarable!!! LET YOURSELF HEAL!!! Don't push yourself too hard! You'd end up regretting it!!
I was stupid and put an ACE Bandage around it, and tried to carry on as usual.... BAD idea!!! wound up with hurt foot and ankles and hips....

TangledUp_InBlue

I tore my soleus muscle (the smaller of the two calf muscles) about a month ago and for general walking and stuff it’s better, but if I push off on it swimming or even mowing the lawn; it hurts still. I think they told me it takes 6-8 months. Nothing they could do for it…they told me to rest and elevate it.

sleepytexan

yes, I tore mine last year but had a very quick recovery. It was crazy when it happened; I was dancing and BOOM! It felt like I got slammed by a baseball and I fell down; couldn't walk.


I am not much for Western medicine; here's what I did: called my chiropractor on the way home from rehearsal (a friend drove me home). He said put it in an ice bath immediately for 10 minutes before bed. The next day I had acupuncture, and went to see the chiro. My daughter had a broken wrist at the time, so I happened to ask her ortho for a walking boot (chiro said only wear it for walking even tho ortho said wear it constantly).

I had 4 more acupuncture treatments over 2 weeks and was able to perform (dancing) 17 days later. I have had no residual problems.

I would strongly suggest chiropractic and acupuncture.

EDIT: I see several have mentioned having had tight calf muscles to begin with; that probably would exacerbate the problem. Having been a dancer for (aack!) over 30 years now, I am very very flexible and my gastrocnemeous and soleus may have been in better-than average condition. HOWEVER, I still say western medicine creates a lot of problems in its refusal to look at the whole body.

If you are still hurting after this long, it's time to try some alternatives.

blessings.

run2jeepn

I tore mine during MMA. At first I thought it was just a bad cramp from taking a hard hit. Ultrasound a few days later told other wise. Took about 3 months to heal to 90%. Unless it's torn away. It will heal on it's own.

jzrharv

I'd torn them both at different times, usually while teaching Jazzercise. Heat/cold therapy and using heel lifts (to reduce the amount of muscle extension) helped me get back to full speed in about a month. Make sure your shoes are not broke down in terms of support.

Misiaxcore

*Sigh* Talked to a chiropractor on my swim team - said she'll have a look.

Thank you all for your stories. Wish this was an easy fix. How will I get fit now ? -_-; Grrrrr #firstworldproblems

ninerbuff

Strain 2 last April. Within a week I was able to walk without a pronounced limp and in 3 weeks able to hop. I massaged the crap out of it and kept stretching it.
IMO, most people let excess scar tissue form and that's what may be causing the pain.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition