I Tore My Calf

Thirteen days ago I tore something in my left calf area. I’ll deem it unhealthy fascia. Don’t despair, the muscles are intact, and I still have the most beautiful legs in the Wasatch.

As for what happened…

I was seven miles deep on the Park City Rail Trail. I had stopped to take a few photos, and upon restarting the run, I felt some soreness in my left calf. I continued to modify my gait for a couple miles until something popped. I quickly checked my Achilles to make sure it was intact. It was. Nevertheless, the pain escalated, and I absolutely could not run.

My car was still five miles away. I was in a relative time crunch to get to my morning clinic. I decided to run backwards for a bit. I even tried side skipping. Walking ended up being the most efficient strategy. I made it to my car in time–as well as my clinic.

I could barely limp the first couple days of the injury. Then gradually the pain subsided. I biked and hiked to distract myself. As long as my vertical oscillation was low, I had no pain.

Yesterday I hiked West Grandeur with zero pain. Today I ran 8 miles easy in Liberty Park with zero pain. I’ll continue the easy runs for the rest of the week. Then the plan is to resume training.

Because legs are not made in the kitchen.

Why did I tear my calf?

I’ve had low grade left calf pain for about nine years. I suppose it was only a matter of time before I sustained a serious injury.

Over the past month, I’ve been running almost exclusively in carbon plated shoes. I own several pairs by various companies. I love the feel. I think they have value in keeping my feet healthy. However, I was running relatively fast on asphalt on most days. I think I just had too muscle stiffness, and something had to give. I’m lucky that only fascia tore.

How did I rehab the calf tear?

I started with some easy walking as well as active ankle movements.

• Shockwave therapy! This induces additional blood flow to the calf, which aids in healing.

• Blood Flow Restriction training. I recently purchased B-Strong bands. I’ve applied them to my calves to strengthen them while doing calf raises. My objective for this injury was to improve fascia gliding, as well as to provide a hyperemic (rush of blood) response when the bands were removed. Once again, blood flow improves healing.

• Banded distraction of my ankle and subtalar joint. You can use a belt tied to a stable object. I used large elastic bands and tied them to the rack at the gym. Simply loosening up the joint capsule via banded distraction can improve dorsiflexion and unlock surrounding soft tissue structures.

• Professional deep tissue massage. Thanks Amber at Center for Length for fixing me! Great body workers can find trigger points in the muscles, and manually get fascia gliding better.

• Custom orthotics. These devices will help control rearfoot motion. An increased pronatory force during my gait was causing posterior tibial tendon pain. Supporting my posterior tibial tendon with orthotics has allowed that area of the problem to heal.

• Cross training! Keep moving. I incorporated biking, a few hikes, yoga, and lifting into my rehab weeks. Total rest will not necessarily help the calf heal faster. I experienced the most pain while standing upon rest. After walking around the gym an lifting, or hiking, improved the pain and function tremendously.

See you out on the trails!