Run-Down Forums

[Guest]

Hi Dan,

What is the best treatment for strained calf muscles. I ran a half-marathon and 10k on back to back weekends and I either strained or pulled my calf muscles. Both of them. I tried to run the other day and it felt like someone stabbed me in the back of my legs. Very painful. How long can I expect to take off before I can run again? I have never had this kind of injury before.

Thanks,

Dave.

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Dave']

[Dan]

Hi Dave,

I think the best treatment would be a healthy dose of rest and stretching, possibly with the addition of heat packs. Calf stuff tends to be slow in going away, and can be quite tough to run through effectively. My hamstring injury is almost certainly directly attributable to trying to run through very sore calves...

My guess would be that your calves are very sore and possibly cramped, not strained or pulled. The reason I say this is because a distance run is not likely to put the high intensity strain on those muscles necessary to pull something, but it certainly could lead to cramping.

If you know of a good soft tissue specialist (massage), that could help a lot to speeding up the recovery.

Cheers,
Dan