Sudden Calf Pain!

mklassy123
mklassy123 Posts: 153
in Fitness and Exercise
I swear the workout gods hate me.

For about a month I couldn't workout due to a health issue and then a severe case of vertigo. Finally able to workout again for the past week, and I'm taking it REALLY easy and slow. Walking half an hour at approx. 4 mph, no incline yet. In addition, light weights, no lunges.

I was walking my dog earlier and I felt a funny twinge in my left calf and then all of a sudden I could barely walk. It's a kind of burning pain. It only hurts if I walk, if I'm sitting or lying down it doesn't hurt at all. No pain if I press on it, but when I walk on it - OUCH. There is no bruising or swelling.

I just don't think I need to run to the doctor, but this has never happened before. Possible pulled muscle? Maybe a muscle spasm while I was walking the dog? Walking the dog is NOT a heavy duty cardio walk, at least not while walking MY dog, LOL. Any suggestions on what this could be? I last worked out yesterday, not even today!

Replies

  • Docmahi
    Docmahi Posts: 1,603 Member
    I would try hydrating, and taking some sort of OTC anti-inflammatory like an aleve.

    If it doesn't improve then you should consider the ER/DR
  • mklassy123
    mklassy123 Posts: 153
    Thanks. I've been icing and I just took some ibuprofen. I didn't think about the hydrating, I'll drink more water.
  • DavidKBrewer
    DavidKBrewer Posts: 53
    Not sure if this applies, but at the end of January I had what's referred to as a "calf heart attack". It was a micro tear in the calf muscle. It happened about 2 miles into my run. My calf felt tight but I ignored it until I felt a little pop and then I couldn't put any weight on my leg. The pain was not in the center of the calf but pretty low, a few inches above the achilles tendon.

    I found the article below that explained how to recover. As it says in the article, within a couple days it felt fine, but when I would run I'd feel it start to tighten again and would have to back off. To keep from a relapse, I followed the information in the article and it got me through it by slowly working my way back up to running.

    From talking to others it sounds like this is a really nagging injury that can come back easily. My wife had to force me not to try to just go out and run like normal until I'd given it time to heal. Not sure if this will help, but here's the article.

    http://www.thestick.net/Articles/Calf_ Heart_ Attack.htm
  • mklassy123
    mklassy123 Posts: 153
    Thanks! About a week and a half ago I did something to this calf, I felt it! This sounds very similar to what happened to me today, that "rumble" I felt in my calf could have possibly been a tear (which a friend suggested that's what it sounded like), DAMN! I am going to rest the heck out of it and massage and stretch it, see if that helps.

    It's just so bizarre that it happened when I wasn't working out, but I've been back at it for the past week.

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