Hi

The other calf muscle is called Gastrocnemius.

Basically any calf strain relates to muscle strain/tear of either the soleus muscle or the gastrocnemius muscle. You can strain either of these muscles acutely (ie running and feel sudden intense pain) or by a gradual process whereby you cause microtrauma to your muscle fibers over a period of time. This is usually due to overuse (eg too much running!!) which causes inflammation and scar tissue in the muscle fibers.

SO - depending on which muscle is involved and whether or not it's acute or overuse, they can all be labelled calf strain and one can feel completely different from another. Which is why this injury may feel different from previous calf strain injuries.

What to do?? REST initially. You can cross train by cycling, swimming, aqua jogging. Work on stretches and most importantly eccentric calf raises!!! Eccentric exercises are key to rebuilding muscle fibers and strength quickly. You should see a physio for guidance on this (or google eccentric gastrocnemius and soleus exercises) OR - let me know if you have no luck and I could try and send you some exercises with pictures.

Hope this helps.