Why would a healed, previously torn gastrocnemius act up during cold/humid weather and tear again?? :mad:
I tore it twice in three days beginning of November (I didn’t know what it was the first time), recovery was nice and smooth until today when it felt sore for the first time again and tore it again during a sub max 60. These are only 1st degree tears, but still…
I know, silly me for keeping on w/the session once I felt the soreness, but do I have to live with the fear of this from now on?? The muscle was perfectly fine until yesterday.
You need to be very careful with a calf injury because it’s hard to rest the area. never keep going if you get the first hint of trouble. for now, ice it often during the first two days or so and the get manual treatment working from the surrounding area toward the injury site from both directions but not on it yet. In three days, you’ll prob get an idea whether it’s a slight extention injury or something more. Keep us posted.
Thanks
The second time I went to treatment, I went to a very good sports medical doctor (trained for years in Germany), he actually treats some of the top here (I’m not top, but I got the connection :o ).
We did:
Day 1
a)heating (with a machine that exerted light - I don’t know the technical terms, sorry)
b)a machine similar to EMS (I asked if it was the same but he said it wasn’t), but worked with cups that stimulated the muscle electrically
c)ultrasound
Then on day 2:
a) as day 1
b) electro acupuncture
c) ultrasound
Day 3
same as day 1
and Day 4
a) as day 1
B) electric pad that burned my skin (he said it was more superficial treatment, not penetrating as deep as the other machine
c) ultrasound
The treatment was pretty effective.
We did no manual stuff like Charlie suggests, but I’ll certainly ask him about it!
I’ll pay him a visit most likely on Monday.
Icing a LOT for now.
Actually, we had done laser treatment, but I forgot to mention it. The “a” I was trying to describe must have been something different. It looked like a desk lamp (with some imagination).
I’m visiting the dude tomorrow. I’ll clear up some questions!
Have been icing until yesterday.
Went to the pool today, and it didn’t bother doing kickboard and running in water.
p.s. last time the doc encouraged me to do jogging during treatment period (but I didn’t, I was scared, since I’ve done stupid things during past injuries :o ).
Pool felt right.
Yayyyy! went to the doctor today, and I didn’t re-tear the calf again It was just a bad muscle contraction, which is why I had pain on Friday and then it mostly went away the next days.
So I’ll rest it some more today and tomorrow (going to the pool again tomorrow, MB abs today) and I can start at 50% intensity Thursday and move up from there.
It was mostly a weather issue. He had a number of athletes call him with similar problems since last Thursday. Damn humidity.
p.s. No time to ask him about his machines… he was TOO busy! (and I don’t want to say “next time” :rolleyes: )
Charlie’s too far.
I’m coming and I’m bringing along my shin splints, my sensititive gastrocnemius, my weak ankle, my chondromalacia and plica syndromed knees, my glute sporadic irritation and my painful bunion (I think the stress fractures are long healed) :o
Prepare all of the equipment! I’m free on Christmas day.
haha, i was thinking that today when i was training, my calf cramped too, so i pulled up right away. But it seems my shoes “blown” a flat… NIKE joggers - as i was walking home, i could hear them squaking each step. Twas also crazy humid and before i heard the shoe squaking i was blaming it on the mass humidity we have been having too.
it was only a minor cramp, and have done re-hab and it will be fine tomorrow:D
First chance that comes along I’ll certainly take advantage!
Jamirok, if you find yourself in Greece, letttt meeee knowwwwww :o
I have a question:
I know it’s the gastrocnemius that got overstretched, now that part doesn’t bother me at all, but similarly to the first time when I tore it, the part that is sore during the first days of coming back is the achilles tendon. Is this normal?
I did some tempo today: 10x100, 7x100 (15-16sec pace with walk back 80" recoveries), and the tendon bothered me during the first 3, but then I was fine through the end.
(p.s. today was not my first day… saturday I did 1500m worth of tempo with the tendon bothering me towards the end just a BIT though, and Friday I had done 1000m worth of tempo, with some slight tightness, but the doctor had warned me that it’s gonna be tight at the beginning, I’m just not sure if he meant the calf itself or the achilles tendon just below it…)
Oh: I’m also supposed to heat my lower calf every night for 15min. It seems to help a lot.
There is a chance I’m about to resolve all of my lower leg problems that have been haunting me for 4 years now.
Here’s the history (yes, all these in less than 4 years):
4 stress fractures (right)
very bad shin splints (both anterior and posterior, both legs, but mostly left)
left knee chondromalacia (pretty much happening the past 2 years)
right knee plica syndrome (although I still don’t understand the difference between the two)
2 first degree gastrocnemius tears and 1 overstretch (all left)
Left ankle “instability”/discomfort during and after my calf tears
Currently: left knee issues:
inside tendon towards the back won’t let me sprint (I feel it’s gonna pop or something…)
buise-like pain at the lower right part of knee
pain at the left side in a vertically linear fashion … the whole knee pretty much feels very unstable. (going for ultrasound tomorrow to see what’s in there…)
[On a good note, I have no shin splints ( ), and my calf feels perfectly fine by now ( :), perhaps because I can never train normally for more than 1 week at a time ]
To the topic: my sports doctor wants me to get new orthotics because he says the ones i have don’t do anything (they are too soft and flexible, apparently I need hard ones), so I had a pelmatography today (is that the english word?) and the pelmatologist saw on the computer that I have developed a slight case of flat footedness.
To my question of why all my problems are in my left leg this year, he said that the right foot is more flat footed than the left, causing the left one to take on all the instability and be problematic.
What do you think Jami? (and anybody else, of course!)
If this is not the root of the problems, I’m taking a plane to Italy :o
You say you can’t train ‘normally’ for more than a week. if you can’t sustain your training for more than a week, it’s not normal and should be modified. You need more running on a good quality grass surface and lower overall volume.
(and you need to hook up with Jamirok)
The muscle was perfectly fine until yesterday.
It was just a bad muscle contraction, which is why I had pain on Friday and then it mostly went away the next days. 
Charlie HELP ME!