Calf pain

by Chris
(Liverpool, England )

Hi, just wondering if any advice available for calf pain! I always seem to injure my calfs when running. If its not the left its the right.
Warm up and down and dont over do it due to always having in mind whether my calf is going to go or not. Got to the point now that I'm scared to even go for a run.
Any advice is welcomed.

Nicole's reply:
Hi Chris, Thanks for the question and I'm sorry that you are having a bit of a tough time with injuries. I am not a doctor or physio so would be unqualified to diagnose anything but I can give you some suggestions to get your started on trying to work out what the issue might be.

Injuries can be caused by a muscular imbalance. Often we don't even know that we have an imbalance. I had a knee injury many years ago and although recovered, I then went on to have an imbalance and so one side of my body seemed to regularly get injured. A sports physio might be able to help you work out if this is the case with you.

Are your calf muscles very tight and knotted? Foam rolling or massage might help.

Overtraining or running too fast all the time can be a cause. Make sure that 80% of your weekly runs are easy paced runs and that you have enough rest days. Training = running + rest.

Are you giving any injuries enough time to heal?. Some injuries can take 3 months or more to heal. If you continue to run on an injury, then it can become chronic and then takes much longer to heal.

Gait and posture are also something to look at. Look up chi running or pose running as that might give you some clues.

Your running equipment could be the cause. Are your running shoes worn out or suited to your feet, are you socks too tight?

Do you do any strength training? Look for specific exercises for calf strengthening.

I would suggest that you really tone down your running for a bit. Perhaps start with brisk walking for a short period and see how you go. Gradually increase the time on your feet and the pace until you are doing slow short jogs without pain. Have a look at MAF training as that could be the answer for you right now.

I hope that helps a bit and I hope that you get it sorted quickly. It could well be that you just need to make a few tweaks to something and then you'll be back up running.