Pain in ankles and calves

Hi

I am a trampolinist on a university team and have been getting pain in my ankles and calves for the last 7 weeks or so which started off as just a pulling pain in the back of my leg while i was jumping and progressively became more painful. It began when i started using some new equipment at a different gym, however now it does not matter where i train i still get the pain. Over the first 4 weeks the pain got worse and it would feel like burning when i stopped training/had a break. At a competition my legs where twitching after i completed routines. I have also been getting pins and needles and numbness in my feet on and off. The pain now affects me during the day and is worse at night, even when i have not been training.
I went to the doctors and they suggested it may be tendinitis and gave me ibuprofen, and told me to ice my legs and cut back the training. Since doing this my legs have been less painful when training but i am now getting pain all the time and it is more on the lateral aspect of my leg and into the arch of my foot as well as the pain spreading up to my knee. My feet get incredibly cold and feel like i loose sensation in them. I am also getting bruising around my ankles and knees especially after training even though there has been no trauma.

If i press in along the side of my leg where i get symptoms it is painful from the side of my ankle all the way up the back of my leg to the knee on both medial and lateral aspects. My foot is also tender under the arch of my foot.

Any ideas as to what this could be as what i have read about tendinitis it does not really seem to fit. Is there anything i can do which does not mean completely stopping training?

Many Thanks

How tight are the muscles in your calves? I'm thinking that with all the training you've been doing the muscles have tightened considerably, which puts tension tendons and compression on nerves. Find a good therapeutic/sport massage therapist (not just relaxing massage for you) and get some work done. You'll know very quickly if it helps or not.

Hi thanks,

I have now seen a physio who also suggested massage so i have started doing that followed by stretches I have been given. I have only been doing the stretches for two days which i realize is a short amount of time but a lot of the symptoms such as numbness and odd tingling sensations in the back of my legs have begun again after not having had them for 3
weeks while i was resting. It was so bad last night it prevented me sleeping as my legs felt cold and tingly. Is it still ok to carry on with the exercises, will the symptoms improve as i carry on?

Many Thanks

Hey,

Check in with your physio. Sometimes the stretching can compress the nerves/tissues if everything is extremely tight. In cases like that, I usually focus on things like massage and foam rolling, then progress to stretching as things loosen up.