tore my calf. any experience here?

Rum, beer, movies, nice websites, gaming, etc., without interrupting the flow of martial threads.

tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby everything on Fri Mar 10, 2017 9:39 am

So I tore my calf by starting a sprint while playing soccer. Middle age and sports are a bad combo, haha!

It's a "minor" tear as far as I know. Achilles tendon is attached and working. Pain is very minimal. There is some tenderness to the touch, and if I stretch (not doing it) it'll want to protect itself and go back to a tight position. I'm following the RICE protocol and keeping weight off it (using crutches for now) and not stretching it (allowing stiffness so scarring can do its thing before later getting flexibility back after the initial healing stage).

Anyway, anyone happen to have this kind of injury before? What was your rehab process and timing like if so? Not asking for medical advice/opinion; just curious if you had a similar experience you want to share. Thanks.

P.S. "health arts" instead of martial arts are getting more and more interesting...
amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong
/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /
“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science
User avatar
everything
Wuji
 
Posts: 8262
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 7:22 pm
Location: USA

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby David Boxen on Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:28 am

If it's a muscle belly tear you can try the Bill Starr Protocol:

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2016/10/12/rehab-muscle-strains-tears/
We are not stuff that abides, but patterns that perpetuate themselves. - Norbert Wiener
David Boxen
Huajing
 
Posts: 480
Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:54 pm
Location: Toronto

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby vadaga on Fri Mar 10, 2017 1:41 pm

calves usually heal quick- just dont do any strenuous exercise on it for 2-3 weeks and stretch to the limits of what is not painful and it should sort itself out
善人和气一团
User avatar
vadaga
Wuji
 
Posts: 1139
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:53 am
Location: 地球

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby P. Li on Fri Mar 10, 2017 5:58 pm

Happened to my co-worker. He didn't give enough recovery time and re-injured it. Currently he's pain free running and lifting no problem.
P. Li
Mingjing
 
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 5:51 pm
Location: San Francisco, CA

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby everything on Fri Mar 10, 2017 6:41 pm

Thanks for sharing. Mine seems to be healing quickly, but I'll definitely not rush it.
amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong
/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /
“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science
User avatar
everything
Wuji
 
Posts: 8262
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 7:22 pm
Location: USA

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby Taste of Death on Mon Mar 13, 2017 1:12 am

Was it the calf or the soleus (the muscle just below the calf)? I have twice torn my left soleus and made full recoveries without a doctor's visit both times. Very painful though. Be careful walking down stairs.
"It was already late. Night stood murkily over people, and no one else pronounced words; all that could be heard was a dog barking in some alien village---just as in olden times, as if it existed in a constant eternity." Andrey Platonov
User avatar
Taste of Death
Wuji
 
Posts: 1476
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 11:07 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby everything on Mon Mar 13, 2017 6:55 am

I believe it could be the soleus, but not 100% sure. My PTs could manually squeeze my calf to verify that moves my foot via the achilles tendon, so the tendon seems ok. It's not very painful - unless I attempt to put weight on it in a non-flexed position, then the muscle wants to contract to be sure not to stretch. Any sore sensation is higher up than where the tendon attaches, AFAIK.

Seems to be getting well quickly, but it's annoying to use crutches, but it's more annoying to not move around so it's ok.

How did you tear your soleus those 2 times?

Edit: taking a quick look at this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2697334/ - seems like "tennis leg" is what happened to me (only sudden acceleration playing soccer instead). So probably not soleus. It happened under fast twitch activity.

Edit 2: the main tender spot is right in the center. Hmm. No idea what that means.
Last edited by everything on Mon Mar 13, 2017 7:17 am, edited 2 times in total.
amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong
/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /
“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science
User avatar
everything
Wuji
 
Posts: 8262
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 7:22 pm
Location: USA

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby Taste of Death on Mon Mar 13, 2017 10:36 pm

Stopped on a dime at full speed and pulled up for a jumper. Felt like someone hit me with a rock. I turned around to spot the culprit but no one was there.

The sprint 8. 3:00 jog followed by 8 all-out sprints for 30sec with 90sec recovery. I didn't make it to 8 that time.
"It was already late. Night stood murkily over people, and no one else pronounced words; all that could be heard was a dog barking in some alien village---just as in olden times, as if it existed in a constant eternity." Andrey Platonov
User avatar
Taste of Death
Wuji
 
Posts: 1476
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 11:07 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby everything on Fri Mar 17, 2017 10:47 am

Ah yeah, feeling like you got hit/kicked seems to be the classic description.

Luckily, it seems to be healing really quickly. However, I will get back into things super slowly. It's unfortunate because I was enjoying kettlebell swings a lot. I kinda suspect maybe I should gotten into the swings more slowly. My calves have always been tight so getting them strong and more flexible should probably take longer. Maybe the swings were putting too much stress (can't feel it) on them w/o me knowing.
amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong
/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /
“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science
User avatar
everything
Wuji
 
Posts: 8262
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 7:22 pm
Location: USA

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby everything on Mon May 15, 2017 7:58 am

So I've been doing rehab for about 2 months now and feeling pretty good. Never saw the surgeon for better or worse. Have done many calf raises and resistance band exercises. Adding weight slowly. A little jogging seems ok. Once my calf is normal sized again, I can possibly do some agility work and faster runs.

However, sports with extreme cutting may be out of the picture forever at this point, sadly. As much as we always make fun of and put down pushing hands, light pushing hands including throws, seems like it would be especially fun now. HELL, while I'm at it, pickle ball looks like fun.
amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong
/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /
“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science
User avatar
everything
Wuji
 
Posts: 8262
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 7:22 pm
Location: USA

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby wayne hansen on Mon May 15, 2017 11:51 am

When I was training rugby league teams I never used ICE
Only Dit da Yao and Zheng gu shui
Never had one player out the next week
Don't put power into the form let it naturally arise from the form
wayne hansen
Wuji
 
Posts: 5658
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:52 pm

Re: tore my calf. any experience here?

Postby everything on Mon May 15, 2017 12:17 pm

Probably what I should've done. Won't cure my middle-age slowness but there is this new Asian store around here so I should probably check for some of these liniments.
amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong
/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /
“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science
User avatar
everything
Wuji
 
Posts: 8262
Joined: Tue May 13, 2008 7:22 pm
Location: USA


Return to Off the Topic

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 5 guests