Calf injury advice

[SarahW]

Hi,

Im a runner and am currently trying to rehab a right calf injury. The tear occured about 10 weeks ago and causes pain starting at the lower half of my shin bone and wrapping around my leg medially. I have had it looked at and it is definately a calf injury and not shin splints.

I continued running with the injury for about 6 weeks, ignoring the pain, however at this point it was starting to have an effect on my walking.

Following this I took two weeks off running all together, completing stretching exercises, walking, and low impact cardio in the gym like the bike and elliptical machine.

I have started running again, gradually increasing my time and distance and trying to increase my speed as well, over the past two weeks. I find I cannot run two days in a row. I have managed to get back to running around 10kms, but I am only able to really do this twice a week, if I try and do any more I start to get an acheing in the calf.

I am planning on running my first marathon in July and I want to start my training program next week, but I dont really think this is going to happen. So I have a couple of questions:

1. Is there anything I can do to hasten my rehab? I have continued with a more thorough stretching routine,I am also trying to strengthen my calves doing calf raises. I really need to be back to running at least 40kms a week within the next two weeks.

2. Is there any merit to using compression socks/tights for my calves? I have read that they assist in injury repair and also injury prevention, and as I have had other calf problems in the past (shin splints, calf cramps, and a calf tear on my other leg), I am thinking they may be a good investment.

3. is there anything else I can do to stop this from happening in future as it is a real pain, makes any sort of high impact exercise impossible.

Thanks for your help

Sarah

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[Lynsey McGovern]

Hi Sarah,

I'm a physiotherapist working in Ireland. I would suggest you find a physiotherapist who specialises in dry needling and orthotic prescription. Your calf sounds like it is totally overloaded with trigger points and it cant release or stretch out properly. Strengthening will only increase them and lead to further problems. Dry needling is so effective for this. You may need a few sessions though because you have had it for so long and because you want get the muscle right for hight impact long distance running. The craps can also be a sign of myofascial dysfunction. Sometimes i have patients attending the clinic just to have dry needling to relieve calf craps - Works really well! The other thing is you would need to have your feet either assessed by a chartered physiotherapist who is trained in orthotic prescription or a podiatrists. The reason for this is that it sounds to me that you may have a over pronated foot type and as a result of this you are over loading the muscles along the front of the shin ( tibialis anterior muscle) and the calf. Let me know how you get on? Good luck..Lynsey