hey nick, how's the calf pain
hey nick, how's the calf pain coming ? i have exactly the same kind of pain you've described and was looking for some encouragement, hoping you were getting past it. i switched to barefoot over the smmer, and i think my calf problem is an old injury coupled with tmts. when i first started barefooting this summer, i had pain in both calves. so i dialed my distance way down with small increases, and i was fine for a while. then after about a month of 4 to 6 3 milers a week, i started throwing in some 4 and 5.5 milers and some increased speed (nothing crazy, just a 7.5min or so mile at the end) and the pain came back. i'm assuming/hoping it will go away if i dial down again and increase more slowly. i find it really difficult though, because i just find it so frigiging fun. i think about it all the time, and when i can't run i get all grumpy. its really kind of an addiction. there even seems to be tolerance to the fun effects, with it taking more more distance to get to the blissed-out feeling.
hey nick, how's the calf pain coming ? i have exactly the same kind of pain you've described and was looking for some encouragement, hoping you were getting past it. i switched to barefoot over the smmer, and i think my calf problem is an old injury coupled with tmts. when i first started barefooting this summer, i had pain in both calves. so i dialed my distance way down with small increases, and i was fine for a while. then after about a month of 4 to 6 3 milers a week, i started throwing in some 4 and 5.5 milers and some increased speed (nothing crazy, just a 7.5min or so mile at the end) and the pain came back. i'm assuming/hoping it will go away if i dial down again and increase more slowly. i find it really difficult though, because i just find it so frigiging fun. i think about it all the time, and when i can't run i get all grumpy. its really kind of an addiction. there even seems to be tolerance to the fun effects, with it taking more more distance to get to the blissed-out feeling.
NickW
Guest
Hey Jim, I actually have no
Hey Jim, I actually have no more calf pain. What I found that worked for me was to stop stretching. I do not stretch at all anymore. I will massage the muscles if needed, but I never stretch. For warm up and cool down I will walk. It was amazing how fast my calf healed when I stopped stretching. Inside of a week I think I was running short distances, and probably could have run farther but was afraid of re-injuring myself. I think I was off almost two months because of the calf injury. Good luck and I hope this helps. I know your pain and I hope you heal fast.
Hey Jim, I actually have no more calf pain. What I found that worked for me was to stop stretching. I do not stretch at all anymore. I will massage the muscles if needed, but I never stretch. For warm up and cool down I will walk. It was amazing how fast my calf healed when I stopped stretching. Inside of a week I think I was running short distances, and probably could have run farther but was afraid of re-injuring myself. I think I was off almost two months because of the calf injury. Good luck and I hope this helps. I know your pain and I hope you heal fast.
aaargh.last week i was
aaargh.
last week i was running fine, then friday morning my right calf pain stopped me after about a mile. no running til this morning (though i did surf saturday with no pain). so this morning i thought i'd try a little run, and only got about 8 blocks and the pain was back.
i gave up stretching a while ago, and i roller my legs (though not so regularly).
how quickly did you build back up ?
the thought of taking two months off kills me. also, i think part of the problem is when it started getting colder here, i started wearing vibrams, which i think allowed me to do way too much. i tried going back to barefoot, but its getting kinda cold here (new york,) if i take off a month the start in december barefoot, i think that could be a problem.
aaargh.
last week i was running fine, then friday morning my right calf pain stopped me after about a mile. no running til this morning (though i did surf saturday with no pain). so this morning i thought i'd try a little run, and only got about 8 blocks and the pain was back.
i gave up stretching a while ago, and i roller my legs (though not so regularly).
how quickly did you build back up ?
the thought of taking two months off kills me. also, i think part of the problem is when it started getting colder here, i started wearing vibrams, which i think allowed me to do way too much. i tried going back to barefoot, but its getting kinda cold here (new york,) if i take off a month the start in december barefoot, i think that could be a problem.
NickW
Guest
Jim, for me the two months
Jim, for me the two months off was me trying to do a run one a week or once every two weeks and re-injuring myself on those runs. When I stopped stretching I waited till I had no pain, and then waited an extra couple days to make sure I was healed, before I tried running again.
When I started running again I was terrified of hurting myself so I ran a half mile, and then walked half mile back. I did this three times the first week with a day of rest between each run. Essentially I ran M-W-F. The second week I ran 3 times at 3/4 of a mile each run. The next week my first run I did a mile run and felt great. My next run was 1.62 miles which may have been a little far but I was running strictly on how I felt. I was exhausted and out of shape thanks to being off for so long is the only reason I stopped on that run. After that I've been working to getting back to my old distances and pace and am almost back to where I was prior to injury.
Jim, for me the two months off was me trying to do a run one a week or once every two weeks and re-injuring myself on those runs. When I stopped stretching I waited till I had no pain, and then waited an extra couple days to make sure I was healed, before I tried running again.
When I started running again I was terrified of hurting myself so I ran a half mile, and then walked half mile back. I did this three times the first week with a day of rest between each run. Essentially I ran M-W-F. The second week I ran 3 times at 3/4 of a mile each run. The next week my first run I did a mile run and felt great. My next run was 1.62 miles which may have been a little far but I was running strictly on how I felt. I was exhausted and out of shape thanks to being off for so long is the only reason I stopped on that run. After that I've been working to getting back to my old distances and pace and am almost back to where I was prior to injury.
I'll just chime in with my
I'll just chime in with my experience, but you guys have probably already figured this one out. I had what I like to call a "knot monster" in my soleus when I first began barefoot running. It seemed to get better and then WHAM! it would be back when I least expected it. It was an old injury combined with TMTS.
The wooden rolling pin I used to roll it out didn't seem to work well enough so I used one of my kids nerf balls to target the muscle and just lay on it until it released. It was so knotted up that it took a couple weeks of consistent target massage to work the monster out, but eventually it healed.
So if you find the rolling doesn't get in deep enough (yeah...it may make you cry, but trust me if you keep at it, it will eventually release) try a baseball or golf ball and work it out slowly.
I'll just chime in with my experience, but you guys have probably already figured this one out. I had what I like to call a "knot monster" in my soleus when I first began barefoot running. It seemed to get better and then WHAM! it would be back when I least expected it. It was an old injury combined with TMTS.
The wooden rolling pin I used to roll it out didn't seem to work well enough so I used one of my kids nerf balls to target the muscle and just lay on it until it released. It was so knotted up that it took a couple weeks of consistent target massage to work the monster out, but eventually it healed.
So if you find the rolling doesn't get in deep enough (yeah...it may make you cry, but trust me if you keep at it, it will eventually release) try a baseball or golf ball and work it out slowly.
well, its been an interesting
well, its been an interesting couple of weeks.
seems like i'm back in the game.
definitely stopped stretching. i took some time off, then some short runs. then i researched and did some soleus strengthening exercises. then i talked to a pain management buddy of mine who threatened to inject, or do some dry needling of a trigger point in my soleus (which i declined but i read up alot on lower leg triggers and manually released them). finally i headed out on a somewhat longer run (2 miles) with my kid riding a bike behind me telling me what my legs and feet were doing, whihc led to a correction of a problem with my right foot (needed to curl my big toe back a little more, and land a little more lateral on my forefoot.
today i ran a nice 5k with zero pain.
you'd think after running for 20 years and having been to medical school, i'd know a little more about how my legs work, but i felt i learned more about the mechanics of my lower body in the last 2 weeks than rest of my life.
unless of course i go out tomorrow and the calf seizes up again...
i'm not sure if i got to this from links on this board, but i found it really helpful:
http://www.triggerpoints.net/triggerpoints/soleus.htm
i also thought i had a bit of achilles tendonitis brewing on the right side but i saw the diagram for the tibialis posterior trigger point and found one, and worked out an the achilles pain disappeared. poof !
http://www.triggerpoints.net/triggerpoints/tibialis-pos.htm
well, its been an interesting couple of weeks.
seems like i'm back in the game.
definitely stopped stretching. i took some time off, then some short runs. then i researched and did some soleus strengthening exercises. then i talked to a pain management buddy of mine who threatened to inject, or do some dry needling of a trigger point in my soleus (which i declined but i read up alot on lower leg triggers and manually released them). finally i headed out on a somewhat longer run (2 miles) with my kid riding a bike behind me telling me what my legs and feet were doing, whihc led to a correction of a problem with my right foot (needed to curl my big toe back a little more, and land a little more lateral on my forefoot.
today i ran a nice 5k with zero pain.
you'd think after running for 20 years and having been to medical school, i'd know a little more about how my legs work, but i felt i learned more about the mechanics of my lower body in the last 2 weeks than rest of my life.
unless of course i go out tomorrow and the calf seizes up again...
i'm not sure if i got to this from links on this board, but i found it really helpful:
http://www.triggerpoints.net/triggerpoints/soleus.htm
i also thought i had a bit of achilles tendonitis brewing on the right side but i saw the diagram for the tibialis posterior trigger point and found one, and worked out an the achilles pain disappeared. poof !
http://www.triggerpoints.net/triggerpoints/tibialis-pos.htm
NickW, you are nver just
NickW,
you are nver just running on the ball of foot...that is sprinting. "Running" is touch down on the tripod (ball of foot on medail and lateral side and the heel). the initial contact point varies in folks but you are always landing and reloading the spring of the foot and achilles.
Dr. Mark
NickW,
you are nver just running on the ball of foot...that is sprinting. "Running" is touch down on the tripod (ball of foot on medail and lateral side and the heel). the initial contact point varies in folks but you are always landing and reloading the spring of the foot and achilles.
Dr. Mark
