Suggest Treatment For Calf Pain

Posted on Sat, 9 Apr 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sat, 9 Apr 2016 Answered on

Wed, 8 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : 58 year old male, triathlete, long time runner. after about 5 miles of running I get a deep pain down the back of my right calf. it almost seems to move around a little bit, it might start almost at the knee, then a few minutes later it feels worse much lower down my calf. I wear compression calf sleeves at all times when I run and also when I bike. biking does not seem to bother it. yesterday it got so bad that I had to walk back to my truck the final mile with intermittent running to test it. I tried running without the compression calf sleeve and it was much worse. it is not a cramp. it is especially bad when my leg is behind my body. I am now limping around. I can push on my calf in different areas with my hand but can't really mimic the pain. it is just sort of sore all over.

Answered by Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Calf stretch exercises are crucially important for you.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.

I have gone very carefully through your query and understand your concerns. Your right calf muscle seems to get fatigued early. Although wearing compression calf sleeve would provide relief, it is actually making the underlying condition worse. You need to aggrasively practice calf stretches. Just google out for 'calf stretches for runners' and you would get to know about the appropriate techniques. It is always preferable to do things like this under the guidance of a sports physiologist or sports trainer.

You can apply ice compression when the pain worsens.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar