So I went to the physiotherapist today, and apparently, my injury is not the Achilles Tendon after all. Well, that’s a relief. However, I still have a period of rehabilitation ahead of me, before I can consider getting back to full training.
The pain I have been experiencing is because I have some major irritation going in the area where the Gastrocnemius connects to the Soleus. These are both muscles located in the calf. Have a look at this video illustrating these muscles to learn more. Whoever made that video used a computer voice for reading the text – quite annoying… but the information is good.
Treatment
What I will need to focus on now for a good while is stretching exercises for these calf muscles. My sore area is in my left leg, and it was clear that my calf muscles are very inflexible in this leg. I did some stretching today, standing on a stair step and lowering the left leg. I could not go nearly as deep with left leg as with my right, so I will need to focus on improving this flexibility.
Additionally, I will perform some massage on this area by myself, and I will also ice it whenever I stress the sore area in any way. Weekly, I will be getting ultra sound treatment by the physiotherapist.
You can also read more about calf strain and treatment on this sport injury clinic website.
Running again
I am planning on resuming training next week, but I will need to start very gently by running only a few minutes at a time. I will pay close attention to the sore muscle of course, and I must try to be smart this time and not train too much too soon. I am expecting this could take a while to get over completely. My hope is that with proper treatment, time and just doing slow and short jogs, I should be able to get this taken care of within a couple of months.
Video instruction for stretching these muscles
- How to stretch the Soleus muscle (Although I find lowering the leg from a stair step works more efficiently for me at this time)
- How to stretch the Gastrocnemius muscle
Glad to hear you’ve go the diagnosis. Knowing what the enemy is is half the battle. Sounds like your strategy is a good attack.