calf strains are a pain is the @$##s.
I have chronic calf problems, mainly soleus related.
Take your time for recovery. I know from experience soleus can handle allot of work even when its not yet 100% recovered. Better to take a week too much off running to be sure than getting a chronic problem with nagging calfs like me for over 15 years.
Are you sure it is a soleus strain and not a posterior shin splint? The posterior tibialis is affected with the latter and could easily be mistaken as a soleus issue.
I like everything Ange said and would also recommend some isometric calf raise in stretch (not fully stretched) and contracted position. You can do it to focus on gastroc and soleus. The other thing you may want to add in later are some different line hops type activities. Mark McLaughlin posted on elitefts.com some of the hops he had his athletes doing with boxes of different angles a few years ago. That may help her get some different muscles stronger and better conditioned around her ankles.
I would expect her to be able to do the isometrics and ankle dorsiflexion, eversion and inversion activities now. You can start with isometrics for all if active movement reproduces pain and remember to begin with less than maximal contractions. Progress by increasing contraction and or resistance as tolerated and then later on add in some of the different hops.
Ange always has great insights to these things. I’ve come to conclusion injuries happen for reasons which I may or may not fully understand why. Doing a lot of hands on work, I try to not only treat the area (calf) but elsewhere as I feel. I believe I have a good understanding on muscle tone and often can easily tell where to work. As Ange hinted, it could be other issues and could be related to arm swing differential which might cause one foot to land slightly different than the other, or maybe just excessive running on turns etc.
In a time like this, there are options for training. Pool work not touching the ground can help keep fitness up. Bike tempo as well as long as no irritation during pedal cycle. Med ball wall throws (chest pass, side throws, overhead etc), weights both upper and lower body as tolerated, and also try to get a few massage treatments if possible. If so, I would ask the therapist what their beliefs are as to treatment. Too many want to jam fingers doing trigger point or ART style work and I find it is not very effective. A nice Swedish style would probably work best for most common masseurs unless there is a specialist in sports massage around who understands these things.
Just two weekends ago I had to sit about 6 athletes due to nagging issues that were not quite injuries. They came to the meet to get treatment from me. I spent 8 hours doing massage on nearly 12 athletes, most got 2 sessions that day and felt 200% better afterwards. Although I know many still need more work, sometimes things like this are blessings in disguise!
Thanks everyone for the help and suggestions.
Was out of town over the weekend, and started typing a reply a number of times only getting pulled away to do something else and then getting side-tracked.
She is doing better, still has some pain and will be going to a sports doctor today.
She has been doing upper body lifting, bike work about every other day, with stretching everyday… she has a lot of homework lately, so doesn’t have time for both therapy and workouts everyday, having to compromise.
Using the SpeedCoach Plus EMS settings on “Massage”, she is getting EMS every third day. The massage table is set-up in the basement. There is a large screen tv in the same room with a stereo, but she usually “naps” when getting EMS or massage.
I have been massaging her about every other day.
Last night, I did both EMS massage and hand massage. The soleus area at first was sensitive to massage, but after working lightly and then a little more pressure later she was not sensitive to the massage.
She has also been getting ice buckets.
Yes, her shoes were needing replacement…and she now has a new pair.
I missed the cellophane part of your post at first, Ange, and not sure how that should be used?
What about Compression Socks? Would that be something she should wear now or in the future?
She is still not happy about changing schools, even though she knows she had to do it and that it was for the better…all her friends are at her old school, and she doesn’t know anyone at the new school, plus it’s very cliquish and she doesn’t feel she fits in. But, other than that, everything else is fine.
I am wondering if this injury could be caused from not enough in her workouts, and then during the past 3 meets that she ran in running 100m/200m/400m? I actually feel that the very cold and windy day had a lot to do with the strain.
Daughter can only run in JV heats or meets, as per State WIAA rules because she is a transfer student…this has had a big effect on her enjoyment level, but she has been a good sport.
This is what her daily High School workout looks like:
Monday:
“Speed Circuit”
2 x 2 x 10m block starts
2 x 2 x 10m Hills (hill is tiny, and about 10 degrees)
2.5 hours.
Tuesday:
3 x 200m
or
300/200/150m
2.5 hours
Wednesday:
Warmup, no workout
Thursday:
Meet (Daughter only ran in JV races, and last meet was only meet #3)
Friday:
Warmup, no workout
Saturday:
Meet (Varsity meets that have no JV heats, so daughter cannot participate, so does not attend)
About every other Saturday I take her out and do a short speed workout.
For a couple Sundays, she has gone to a trainer to help with her mechanics.
The intensity of the school workouts are low and a lot of time passes, with sprinters at rest between different exercises.
She had been doing only stretching during the workouts since injury…then Tuesday of this week at practice, the trainer told her she could run a 350m/200m/150m @ 50% effort, and on the track instead of grass…which she did, and into the 150m her soleus started hurting.
I told her the week previous that she was not to run, so I talked to the coach yesterday.
Coaches wanted her to run 200/400m in tonight’s meet and to be “pace” runner for sprinters during the next couple weeks to get them ready for Districts/State championships.meet.
I told the sprint coach daughter had appointment with her doctor today, that she was still experiencing pain and still needed rehab and we would see what the doctor had to say.
I should have talked to the coaches last week myself, as they are busy dealing with many kids and different personalities, and probably needed to hear from the Parent instead of the athlete.
Addition:
Actually, I did talk to the sprint coach the day after the injury, but there was no clear communication as to when she would start running. Next time, this will be clear so that there is no confusion later.
I have a question…
On a Sunday, 2 days before my daughter strained her soleus, she had a bad fall doing “resistive” box jumps using a 24" box and a verti-max… I know, I know, after it happened it dawned on me not the safest thing to be doing.
She did not land on the top of the box and landed midway on her shins on the top edge of the box, causing scrapes, bruising and swelling and a lot of pain.
On Tuesday, 2 days later at the meet, her shins were still very sore, scraped/black/blue, slightly swollen and still healing. She also noticed on the same day of the meet when she injured her soleus, that the same leg as her injured soleus, a large area of the shin is “numb”. This same area is still numb, and her calf is somewhat tender to the touch. The past 2 days is the first running, she has been running slow, small circuit, today bike and upper body weights.
Could the nerves of the shin being temporarily damaged have something to do with the light pain she still feels in her calf?
Also, I just noticed this thread should be in the “Injury” Forum… could the Administrator please move this thread ?
I don’t really have much to add to this in terms of your specific question. I remember though, a good friend of mine strained his soleus at the very end 2006 and it took ages before if fully recovered, I believe it was March at the earliest he was fully confident on it. He was receiving regular therapy throughout the whole period and dealt with it professionally. I am not sure why it would take so long, perhaps because it is a postural muscle and therefore gets more taxed by daily life.
No one can really answer your question without seeing her. It is important information that should not be overlooked. I would tell everything that you know to the doctor or therapist treating her. They should assess her strength, reflexes, etc on each side. This will give them some information in regards to how the nerves are functioning, what the issue is and how to treat it.
It has been almost 4 weeks since the initial calf strain (April 30), still slight pain/tightness and at the thickest part of the calf is about 10 -15% larger in circumference than the other calf. Especially noticeable when giving massage.
She has been seen by a local chiro/ART doctor, but she will now go to a different sports chiro/doctor in the Seattle area whom has always almost instantly fixed what we thought and were told by other doctors/therapists as being long term healing injuries, which, after adjusting, he explained were not injuries, just maladjustment… hopefully this will be another case of that.
She has been doing upper body lifting, bike work and Ange’s core workout. The past 2 weeks, added stair raises and step ups (body weight).
She has only been able to run on the grass a couple times, at about 50% and low volume, as I have told her to stop as soon as she feels pain.
Yesterday she was able to run on grass @ 50% and finished small circuit, she said she felt good, but she still could feel a little tightness and a dull light pain.
Any suggestions or comments?
Has she been wearing compression socks? Have they helped? I hate to say it, but I suspect this may end up being an on/off issue for the rest of this summer.
I wasn’t sure about compression socks so I haven’t ordered any…I asked 2 weeks ago, if I should get compression socks in a previous post on this thread at the top of this page, but I don’t think anyone seen it.
Yeah I didn’t see it until I re-read the thread just before I replied. 
Thanks for bringing up the compressions socks, rainy.here. I Went to the local walmart/riteaid/walgreens and all I saw was inexpensive diabetic socks that didn’t look like they gave much support. Any recommendations?
Judgement call on your part on how much to spend (if anything), since they may help, but they may do nothing.
2XU and CEP make very good compression gear, but they are also pretty damn pricey.
I would be wrapping her calves each night with heat , then wrapping them with cellophane ( or other plastic wrap) and then wear track pants to bed or lightly wrap the outside of plastic wrap with loosely fitting tensor bandages. I used to do this for issues with hamstrings and or calves. It’s slightly annoying but less annoying than being injured.
Try not to feel rushed to get better as it will fog your judgement. Do not forget there are many ways to get plenty of work done without any running or pounding. Save the calves for the highest quality work and utilize the bike and pool and medicine ball for extensive work around the body.
I can’t comment on compression socks.
Try to get time lines out of your head. How does that help you or your daughter? Focus on what you can do , take your time and use this time to do things you might not be doing when everything is going smoothly.
sit up circuits, depletion push ups and extensive medball circuits would be what I would be doing.
Thank you Angela for your suggestions. Is the cellophane loosely wrapped, or just slight tension? I really appreciate your help.
Yesterday I took my daughter on the 3 hour drive to the Seattle area to her appointment with the doctor who has each and every time worked ‘magic’ with her.
For over 4 weeks she has had pain in her right calf working its way even around the Achilles tendon…painful to the touch, you can feel the tightness… I have large hands and she has muscular calves… I can just reach the circumference of her left calf with my hand, but the right calf it is very obvious that it is about 15 to 20% larger in diameter than the left one… no way does my hand reach around it.
In the past 4 weeks, she has been only able to run a couple short tempo runs @ 50%, and even then, her calf was tight and hurting, so running stopped each time.
We told the doctor the history, starting with her painful (both shins suffered deep scrapes/bruising/swelling) shin injury doing box jumps and landing very hard on her shins on the top edge of the box 2 days before her last track meet, which at first I assumed she got a calf strain from running in the meet, as the pain first showed up running in her last event…
The doctor had her do different movements both standing and laying on the table making his assessment…
Then he started with the ‘magic’… physically ‘resetting’ her body by using chiropractic skills, but the ‘magical’ part is watching him use his fingers manipulating ‘pressure points’ both in on the roof of her mouth and on her head to reset her body and relieve pain.
Each time the doctor activated a pressure point, my daughter would get a big grin or make a comment… she could feel the sensations in the different places the doctor was working… multiple times she felt the tingling sensations in the exact same areas of her calf and Achilles tendon area where she had so long felt pain before.
After about 15 to 20 minutes of work, she got up off the table, with a huge grin, moving her body in all different ways saying how good she felt… how relaxed her whole body felt…and no tightness or pain in the calf anymore. Of course, no real knowing of how this would be for sure until she actually tried running.
The doctor explained that the injury she sustained to the shins had also injured related nerves to the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles and that when she ran in the track meet 2 days after injuring her shins, this caused the muscles to go into spasm, which they have been in that state since the day of the meet.
Today she ran the small tempo circuit smiling the whole time… and afterwards… no tightness, no pain… just tired… and very happy to be healthy again.
I have posted about this doctor here before, and something I have yet to fix myself, is the fact that this is the 5th time my daughter sustained an ‘injury’, which I took her to the best medical professionals in my area, and each time told of how the ‘injury’ would take a long time to heal and needed certain types of rehab… then finally taking my daughter to see ‘Dr. Magic’ and have him each and EVERY time ‘reset’ her to ‘new’ condition in a matter of a few minutes…
Every time I go through these same motions and go to the doctor I should have gone first… last… (thanks for the reminder Tyrone!)
I get strange looks each time I tell the stories of how this doctor uses these pressure points on my daughter time and time again… but hey, over the past 4 years this man has worked a miracle EVERY time …each time a supposed injury needing time and rehab, only finding it’s just her body needing a ‘reset’.
This doctors view on how ‘modern’ medicine is practiced, is that most doctors treat only the area injured instead of treating the ‘whole’ injury…which most times requires more/all of the body to be taken into consideration.
What is the doctor’s name?
Private message sent…
Wow. Let us know if the issue stays gone!
Day 2 after doctor visit.
Tempo again today, she ran big circuit.
No tightness, no tenderness or pain… felt great afterwards, everything fine so far…