Hi there

Firstly Physiobob ....no disrespect, but can you tell me how an injury obviously caused by overuse can be treated by further overuse/exercise. I fail to see the logic there. In one sentence you say it 'sounds like a calf strain' then you say do 'calf raises', like treating pain with more pain??

Ambiguousnature...Personally I think too mujch focus is being put on the calf, in the majority of cases calf strains/pain are a result of poor hip muscle balance, often a result of overuse. The overuse manifests in the sympathetic nervous system first, causing fatigue of the nerve cells, thus altered blood flow rate to the lower limbs. This results in hip muscle weakness and this weakness is compensated for by the calf muscles as they have to do more work to push off the load than normal. This leads to calf strain. My suggestion is to find someone who can assess your hip, knee and ankle strength, find where the weaknesses are and correct them with myofascial release massage as well as treating the sympathetic area related to this type of injury, namely T10 to L2. Calf strains are very seldom isolated, commonly victims of higher imbalance. Rest and treatment is essential at this stage, not more exercise...you wouldn't drive your car with one cylinder not working would you?

PS about the depression if this is a serious comment you made, you may find you have an underlying circulatory fault and thius again lies in the sympathetic nervous system> Generally if someone says they 'need' to run, then there is a fundamental fault, the running being the 'drug' to get the blood flow rate up. Have the sympathetic nervous system assessed and see if there is fault there, maybe you will not havt to push yourself too hard in the future.

Cheers