My Calf Injury Journal, by Chris Hardbeck

morpheus

 Just thought I'd keep a rolling journal about my old friend, the knife in my calf.

started 2 winters ago, have had 4 occurences of :  calf strain (grade 1 vs grade 2) vs achilles tendonitits vs posterior tibialis tendonitits.  every time I go to PT, I get a different diagnosis.

requires no running, usually 1-2weeks longer than when I THINK I can run again.  or else, relapse.  This is extremely hard to do as a multisport guy, especially with Jan OS getting closer.

supplementing with pool running (strides hitting the pool floor don't hurt much) that minimizes impact, and plan on picking up one of those AQUA JOGGING kits to work with in the deep end.  I've talked to some reputable runners in the area and they rely on this when they have similar injuries.  So, I'll give it a shot.  Also, gonna train most of 2012 with calf compression (have always said I would never do this, but desperate times....).

Every time I think I'm over it, I run a little til I feel it tighten up and then I quit the run.  8', 10', up to 25' now.  But, the day after is brutal, so, even that seeems to be trying to come back too fast.

Spending the rest of the time with swim instruction and cycling, no pain when cycling.

got about 5 weeks til I start Jan OS.

got about 11 weeks til a half mary trail run that I want to do.

 

any feedback will be welcomed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jump4Joy19

How is your calf/ankle/achilles flexibility? If it's a factor in the recurring injury, do you have a plan in place to work on it?

Other unknown is running form - have you had it evaluated to see if there's something you're doing to aggravate this repeatedly?

 

Just some thoughts...

zildgen

Chris,
I had a similar sounding pain in my left calf ~ 3-4 years ago. Stabbing pain that always forced me to stop running. The onset of the pain was variable in time as you describe, It would start to feel better when walking then fire up when running,again at variable times. What cleared it for me was The Stick. The first time I rolled my calf the pain was almost unbearable and then my calf spasm-ed for 3-4 hours after, so much so that my wife noticed and was freaking out a little. Continue to roll calf twice daily for 2 weeks then daily there after with stretching. Never had to stopped running again from the calf pain and have never had that issue again. The Stick representative said that it was due to trigger points or calcium deposits or some such. I'm not sure but very glad it resolved. Not sure it that is your issue but like I said it sounds similar.

cam2win

Ok Chris, I will take a stab at helping you out. 

I'm not a doctor but I sometimes play one on EN.  

 

Seriously I am not a doc, but I have had a lot of calf, hamstring and foot issues. 

I also have no agenda with anything I will recommend or tell you about, it just has worked for me.

 

For your calf strain, I might suggest you look for someone who practices The Graston Technique (Google it if you have never heard of it). This will most likely be a PT or Chiropractor.  I have had Graston work done on my calves and feet for calf strains and Plantar Fasciitis.  My guess (remember this is a guess) is that you will have some pretty nice scar tissue or collagen laid down around the area where the strain is.  If you see someone they will use the Graston tools on you to scrap your calves (don't worry they put a lubricant on the skin) to break up the scar tissue.  Breaking up the scar tissue should help with relieve tightness or pain.

 

Next step: The Chiropractor I see that practices Graston also practices what is called Muscle Activation Technique.  They put me through a battery of tests to see if any of the different muscles in my legs are not firing or working properly.  An example would be they would have me lay on a massage table on my back, take my left leg out to the side and say "ok, I am now going to try and push your left leg back to the right leg, don't let me."  He is checking to see if my adductor muscles (I think this is right, I am not a doc though) is working properly.  If everything is working like it should he can't push my leg in, if not he can push it together.  So if it works he moves on to the next muscle, if it doesn't he then finds the tendon heads for that muscle and he then will put his thumb on it and massage the tendon (I say massage, but it's no massage) to "wake up the tendon and get the muscle to start firing."  After doing this he will then go back and retest to see if things have improved.  What has been explained to me is if a muscle might be weak or inefficient other muscles can step in and compensate for the weak muscle.  In the long run the muscles that step in and compensate for the weak muscles can get over worked and strained.

 

So the example I have been dealing with this past month is I have had some straining/cramping in my left calf.  I had Graston work done to get relief from the pain/tightness I was experiencing.  Then when I went through M.A.T. we found my left hamstring was not firing/working properly.  So if you think about all the muscles in the back side of your leg Glutei, Hamstring, Calf and different foot muscles and they are all connected, if the hamstring isn't working like it should then some other muscles are going to pick up the slack.  In my case it was my calf. My calf was picking up the slack and getting over worked, over time I strained the muscle.

 

So the third step in this is after you get rid of the pain and you figure out what’s not working properly and you get that worked out.  Then you need to get into the gym and put together a function strength program to make sure you properly strengthening all the different muscle in your legs.  This is probably a routine you will want to be able to do a couple of times a week in the off season and once a week during the regular season.  This will lead to the long term success of staying injury free, that and learning good running form (which I am in the process of learning now).  I listened to a webinar with Bobby McGee and he talked a lot about 90 steps per minute for running cadence. I was at the gym running yesterday and found my cadence was in the 80’s and so I am now working on getting it higher.

 

Like I said earlier I am not a doc and have no agenda other than to help out a fellow EN member. 

 

Hope this helps or gives you a direction to go in to find some answers.

 

Good Luck!

morpheus

@ Robin - I'm in the middle of the bell curve as far as flexibility goes for the average middle aged competitive athlete who never stretches. and for the recurring clues, that would be barefoot running. each time I go lower (normal->lower->minimal->barefoot) I get injured.

@ Dewey - which stick (question) The Firm Stick (question) looks right for my pain but not sure.

@ Jason - your feedback parallels my plan...in an ideal world. However, I'm burned out on $50-75 therapy visits. Not to say that I won't end up there, again, but I gotta try to work on this my own this time. I know that I should attack it like you suggest, I just don't have the patience right now to be driving all over Atlanta on my very little time off to continue the cycle. Please understand that I'm not dismissing your ideas, I'm familiar with that kind of 'all in' approach. I just need a break from it this time and this post is to get some ideas. At worst, I single sport bike my ass off for a few weeks and give it the full 3-4 weeks to recover and heal before I try again, in a non minimalist fashion.

good feedback, thank you

zildgen

Chris looking at the web site I believe it is the The Stiff Stick ( http://www.thestick.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=DC-2475 )

Kevin Walter

I am suspicious you might have a gastroc tear. If so, coming back too quickly just retears the muscle and the process starts all over again. You really need to let this heal completely before you run. Its not a problem you can "work through." Basically once the tear is healed, you can start running again. Pool running is great in the meantime (as is cycling and swimming). I have had a problem with gastroc tears over the years and once you have it once you are prone to having it happen again. A tear forced me to walk the entire marathon at IMLP in 2009 and killed this past summer as well. I have tried all sorts of release, massage, TP, etc with maybe some effect? Most effective thing by far though has been working on run cadence this fall. Quicker, shorter, strides seems to be helping a ton. I am going faster, but without a big sense of stress in the calf or soreness along the Achilles.

morpheus

@ Kevin - tho its impossible to tell which muscle is the affected one, I think your experience mimics mine. Yes, I've gotten it to heal with rest in the past. Yes, rehab helps, but doesn't prevent it from happening again. Yes, almost always happens when I try that dang barefoot crap (no more). Yes, quicker shorter strides work best in my case, too. It's not til I get tired does my stride lengthen and the knife stabs my calf again.

If this is the worst case scenario, I can handle it. Don't 'like' it, but can handle it. IMFL is a long ways away. I can swim, cycle, pool run until Jan and eval then heading into the OS. Just might mean dismissing any half mary trail run that I had plans for in February.

The key will be to actually NOT run for at least 2 weeks. I know this, yet, I tend to try to jog just 2-3 days after it flaring back up. I need brains not stubbornness.

morpheus

I think I've found what I'm going to use for training and recovery.

http://www.110playharder.com/ I've tried them on, the cool packs are awesome, stay frozen for up to 6 hours when stored in the freezer bag, very tight compression on the calf.

More $ than I would spend normally, but Santa may get some of his elves on it.

FWIW, I've made it since Tuesday without even trying to run. My goal is to make it to Dec 12 before I even try a jog, no matter how good it feels in the upcoming week.

jhbinsc

@Chris That sounds like a good December goal! No runnning unitl 12/12 no matter what! Good luck, that's a tougher goal than anything I can think of...

morpheus

phew. worked out perfect. Just ran for 20 min at a z1-2 pace and monitored this calf every step of the way. ZERO pain. phew. now, to ease into the next couple of weeks and get a little bit of running miles under my legs before the OS starts.

morpheus

up to running ez every other day. monitoring each step. very slight familiar twinge very occasionally. minimal to no tightness the day after. yes, on the foam rolling about once per day.

haven't tried any quick paces tho, even for short intervals. will try to get a couple of 200/400/800s in next week just to test.

zildgen

Glad to hear things are a little better. Not sure if you had spent any time on athletes treating athletes site but I was a little slow this week at work so I spent a lot of time reading and poking around. Awesome site that might give you some other ideas for treating/stretching/working out those calves.

jhbinsc

@Chris, great ! Been following your progress! Keep the steady improvement coming. Agree w/ Dewey about continuing to treat yourself!

Kevin Walter

Chris, I have been through this MF'in injury more times than I can count. I would not do the 200/400/800, etc until you can run absolutely pain free, no twinge, etc at your e-pace. I have rushed this before and done exactly what you are proposing and each time have ended up back at square one. Each time I told myself I would "back off if it started to hurt", but each time the big hurt came on so quick I couldn't stop things. The most recent rehab in August, Sept, etc I really stuck with just the easy runs until I was absolutely 100% and that worked great. I did do the 30-days thing for the rehab and ended up at exactly the same V-Dot I had just before the injury so skipping the speedwork in favor of frequency didn't seem to hurt me to any great degree. Only started speed once it was completely healed and I was running 7-milers easy with absolutely no pain.

morpheus

Kevin, keep me in check, wil ya? Clearly, same injury. I am so vigilant with every step, but, yes, my experience is when the knife sticks in the leg, it's too late.

Of note, just did a 30 min run, picking the pace up a hair, and threw in 3 x 1' (1') at a 7min pace. Felt fine. tempted to do more, chose not to.

will consider avoiding those test 400s next week. probably will avoid doing them.

morpheus

Thanks for the reference to Athletes Treating Athletes. good info.

morpheus

This a re-post from the gear forum, but it's relevant cuz it's the next progressive step ( no pun intended ) in taking care of this calf injury....



So, here's a quick little review of the calf compression sleeves from 110% Playharder...

started by a med company, like most of the others.

comes in a NASA looking padded envelope, like we see at a UPS or FedEx, about 1ft by 1ft w, with a tinfoil type outer shell, like the kevlar blankets you get after marathons.

inside, you get 2 sleeves and about 6 packs of ice cells. these ice cells swell with water then frozen til use, they are very moldable and can be trimmed.

each sleeve has two layers, acting as a pocket. after a run, you can slide the ice cells into the pocket covering just about every possible injured area on the calf.

also, the bag's purpose is to act as a good insulator. Put the ice cells in the bag when you head to the gym or the trail, go for the run, get back and remove the still frozen ice cells and place in the pocket of the calf sleeve. And, yes, it stayed frozen for me, after sitting in the insulated bag for about an hour and a half. They promote 6 hours, will test that out later

First impression has been very good. Keep in mind that I've never used compression gear before.

I seem to have healed up nicely. Wearing these is not an attempt to fix an injury but to prevent a reinjury.

I really liked how tight they are. I know they're new, but, I never felt like they were falling down the leg. I'll keep an eye on that and see if they loosen up over the year or get too loose.

they were so tight that they were very tough to get on, using socks helped alot, then took socks off for the run.

loved them on the run. felt great, felt strong, felt fresh. 40' run and quickly forgot about my fear of reinjuring the calf. So, for the first time in months, I was able to just run, and not worry.

After the run, applied the ice pack into the pocket at the back of the leg and it wrapped perfectly around the calf. perfect!

taking them off was another story...so tight that they made our wetsuits feel like pajamas. I thought I was gonna pull a hammy or break a finger trying to get them off. But, I think this is a fair trade off for getting the support I want.

Bottom line.... very good first impression.

I plan on using them for most of my running this year unless they present some unforeseen problem.

As the months go by, I'll add some notes if they fall apart or not.



BTW- you guys that race in these types of things, when do you put them on? Before the race? Under the wetsuit? in T1?

zildgen

Glad to hear things are getting better and thanks for the review. Now get your run on!

jhbinsc

Good review but I missed the price if discussed earlier. How much and where'd you get them???

morpheus

thank guys

@jeff - santa picked them up at a local running shop here in Atl, Big Peach Running Company. Retails for $75, get both legs. im aware that this is a good $10-15 more than the competitors. and i'm a cheapskape. if it weren't a gift, i probably wouldn't have even tried them. having said that, i do like them and I'm glad they were given to me!

jhbinsc

Good stuff, I'll check them out. Thx

morpheus

just a quick update, cuz I assume at some point I'll come back to this thread for some help in the future.

It's been 2 months now. Finally started running (jogging) with any FREQUENCY in late December, no hill routes, often on the treadmill. Using Saucony's as opposed to the New Balance Minimus, although I still wear the NB's walking around all day with no probs. Now, mid January, adding some pace. OS is calling for z4 work and I've built some confidence doing the .5 miles and 1 mile repeats at a pace that is just a few seconds slower than the bottom edge of z4 pacing. Frequency has been up to par, not missing any runs. Most of the work is on the same treadmill at LifeTime with a RARE run outside because of the hills. Will hit the local HS track for the first time this Sunday. Wearing the compressions from above, icing after, and foam rolling on occasion. I'm happy with where I'm at. Meaning I can head out for the run workout and, tho I'm cognizant about it, I'm not freaking out that some phantom knife is about to stab my calf for sure on this run. Wish I were running these intervals about 30'' faster but that will come. Haven't even done the 5k test yet. Think I'll wait til early February (that'll be almost 3 months from injury and 1 month late in the OS). IMFL is so far away, most important thing right now is to be running.

Bruce Thompson

Chris - Good to hear that your are recovering nicely.  You're being smart with your steady progress.  Just continue to build up your durability and frequency.  The speed will come.  Suggest you give it a few more weeks before you do the 5k test.   As you said, IMFL is a long way off. 

morpheus

Agreed, most important thing is that I'm running, with form, no pain or limp. Self honesty important on that one. Thinking early to mid Feb for a test. If I have to wait til I transition into my HIM plan, then so be it.

Thanks Bruce. Keep up the good work.

morpheus

UPDATE...
fast forward 7 months, been thru HIM plan, GF plan, no runs longer than the 13 miles at Macon. Been safe, running in Karhu stabilizers.

Now... last week, wk 10 of IMFL build. Doing 3x 1mi repeats, only my second week of enjoying a good pace watch (310xt). Blew my TP intervals out of the water. Felt strong (for me) on each one.

Next day, had a twinge in my R calf. Not the stabbing pain with every step that I endured in the winter. More of a tweak, only hurting when I'd push off to the left. After consulting with a more experienced runner (thanks P!), decided to shelf a couple of runs for the week. was very afraid that the twinge would turn into the stab real quick. Paranoid about missing the Long Thurs Run, but did skip it. Friday felt a much better. Very confident about testing it but nervous that something bad might happen.

so I divided my time up into 3 runs. Each one getting a little quicker, plenty of recovery protocol after each one. I know there's not alot of run build in this kind of approach, but this was more to see if my leg would hold up more than anything else.

the fact that I ended up putting in 11.5 miles on the day is just bonus.

bottom line, to ME if noone else, I truly believe had I run thru the pain on Day 1 or Day 2 or Day 3 then this might be a different update.

sometimes, standing down and being patient is the hardest thing to do, especially when you are sure that you could 'get thru today's workout OK'.

Joe Hallatschek

Okay - in hopes that anyone is still following this:

I got a calf injury yesterday. Doing those "almost bounding" drills from the Get Faster Plan. So, I did my homwwork and followed up with motrin and compression. Today, I swam and it was "tight" when I pushed off from the wall and I walked a mile this morning during a break and a mile during lunch. I can walk normal, but feel the tightness when I walk. From what I read on-line,I think this is a grade 1strain.

Question: I have a sprint race on 7 Oct. What shoould I expect for recovery these next 11 days as I heal? Don't run, don't bike, cancel race? Thoughts on rehab?

Thanks, Joe