Ouch! Sharp calf pain after jumping jacks

Oh no! Sharp sudden pains are rarely good news, did you ice and rest it afterwards and does it still hurt? If it does then you should get your doctor to take a look. I pulled one of the ligments that goes from my calf to my knee last year (proximal medial) I was just rowing on a machine, nothing too strenuous, and it was four weeks untill it was pain-free. Good luck, hope it gets better soon.

It is hard to take a break when you are on a roll, but if you are injured, you have to recover or you might be taking a much longer break as the injury worsens. If you have to take a break with a calf injury, start thinking about other things you can do that will let you keep your focus. Upper body workouts, maybe you can still take long walks without hurting your calf further, maybe some yoga or pilates.

I had a slight twinge behind my left knee when doing some lifting, I knew it wasn't right at the time. The discomfort was relatively minor, but enough to cause a slight limp. I kept working through it (including playing tennis), and ultimately ended up with a Baker's Cyst, had 3 months physical therapy, and took about a year to fully recover. My therapist told me that had I taken care of it properly at the beginning, I probably would have had 4-6 weeks of recovery time instead.

Good luck, and take care!

No help on the pain but were you wearing shoes? I know so many people who have injured themselves at home doing workout DVD's in their living rooms in barefeet. Jumping is hard on your legs and feet and if you aren't used to that without shoe support it can get nasty.

Something else that could be a possibilty, or for others that might have a similar issue: Your alignment could be off. Yes I know jumping jacks are a basic exercise, but it's something I wasn't aware of when I started exercising again. My right calf would start to cramp or burn doing jumping jacks too, but I also noticed some weird pain in my right knee when I would do other exercises, like a lot of squats for example. Maybe see a trainer in your area & ask them to just check & see if your posture & position of your legs during basic exercise movements is okay.

Thanks for the replies folks. I wasn't wearing shoes, no. Will stick my trainers on from now on.

Chiro gave same advice to walk and gently stretch. Will concentrate on abs, back and arms for a few weeks and might try to get some swimming in...

My doctor is a quack who always just tries to give me pain pills so if no improvement in a couple of weeks I'll seek out a physiotherapist.

I normally eat my exercise cals back so. Will modify my intake accordingly.

Thanks again :-)

Here a bit of medical advice for you (I'm a Certified Athletic Trainer at a College)

Based upon the information your presented, it sounds like you may have a quadriceps strain. These can be mild, moderate or severe. A mild strain involves an overstretching of the muscle tissue. With a moderate strain, you have the over stretching and separation of muscle fibers. In a severe strain, you have tearing of a significant portion of muscle fibers. At times you can actually see the muscle fibers ball up and an indention where the strain occurred.

Typical protocol for a muscle strain involves the following -

Rest - avoid activities that increase pain

Ice - decreases swelling and serves as a pain relief via the gate control theory

Elevation - decreases swelling

Support/Protection - with calf strains in my athletes, we generally use neoprene calf sleeves or Kinesiotape. An ACE wrap can also help. These things provide support to the muscle.

Flexibility - often time with a muscle strain, you experience associated tightness. The muscle can contract around the strain. This is the body's way of protecting itself. It's important to do gentle stretching - enough to feel a good stretch, but not enough to cause pain. With the calf, it is important to stretch with your knee straight and your knee bent. When you have your knee straight, you are primarily stretching the gastrocnemius muscle as it inserts above the knee. When you bend your knee, you primarily stretch the soleus muscle, which lies underneath the gastroc and inserts below the knee. We also encourage our athletes to stretch with their toes pointed in, in neutral, and turned out. This can isolate different parts of the muscle in the stretch.

Strengthening - with a muscle strain, you must strengthen the muscle back up! If you don't do this, as a general rule, the muscle is weaker than it was prior to injury, thus increasing your risk of re-injury. Some basic calf strengthening exercises are as follows -
*calf raises - these can be started in a seated position, then progressed into standing and with weights. We also do these with the 3 toe positions (toes in, neutral, toes out)
*toe raises - strengthens the front of your leg/stretches the calf. Helps with a balance between the front and back of your legs.
*step-ups - literally stepping up and down off a stair. Alternate which leg you lead with going up/down. Force production/absorption is different depending on whether your are pushing off or leading with the injured leg.
*toe walks/heel walks - walking a short distance on your toes and then on your heels. Combines basic strength exercises with balance. Can be done forwards, backwards, and laterally.
*squats - yes, these work your calves too
*single leg balance - it's important to incorporate proprioception into strengthening exercises. This increases your body's awareness of where it is in space, thus making landing from a jump easier and safer.


Again, these are some suggestions based upon the information you provided. Should you be suffering from a different injury, this is obviously not valid information. If you continue to have problems, I would suggest seeking out an orthopedic doctor. There is always the potential for the problem to be originating outside of your calf. For example - back issues!

Good luck!

Hi, I'm wondering what became of your injury? I have it right now, and I'm not sure what to do about it....