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Calf injury
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mfullmike; posted:
I pulled or strained a muscle in my calf. I don't feel any pain in the gastronemious muscle, so I'm guessing it involves the soleus muscle. There was no bruising or significant swelling. It first happened while I was hiking with a medium weight backpack on. It started as a dull pain on the uphill which became progressively worse. I was up a trail and needed to descend to get back to my car. I walked slow and tried not to put too much weight and strain on that leg. Just before I made it back to the car, I felt a very sharp pain in the calf that went away after a few moments of rest. I continued to walk slow and easy and got back to the car. I was limping for a couple of days and within a week it felt a lot better and I was able to do some light exercising/walking on a treadmill. A couple more days and I tried doing a spin class at the gym. It felt okay until an hour after the spin class and then felt very strained again. I stayed off it pretty much for a couple of weeks and then slowly started exercising again. A month went by and I was exercising quite a bit again. However, when I tried another uphill and downhill hike again (with only a light daypack) I strained it again slightly. The next day I tried a snow mountaineering class at Mount Rainier and it felt fine, but when I removed the heavy mountaineering boots and walked in tennis shoes, the pain immediately returned. Do you think it's simply a muscle pull that needs more time to heal, or could it be compartment syndrome and how would I tell the difference? Do I need to start with my family doctor or a sport medicine doctor? How long should this take to heal? Any suggestions or advice will be appreciated.
0 Replies |Watch This Discussion | Report This| Share this:Calf injuryI pulled or strained a muscle in my calf. I don't feel any pain in the gastronemious muscle, so I'm guessing it involves the soleus muscle. There was no bruising or significant swelling. It first happened while I was hiking with a medium weight backpack on. It started as a dull pain on the uphill which became progressively worse. I was up a trail and needed to descend to get back to my car. I walked slow and tried not to put too much weight and strain on that leg. Just before I made it back to the car, I felt a very sharp pain in the calf that went away after a few moments of rest. I continued to walk slow and easy and got back to the car. I was limping for a couple of days and within a week it felt a lot better and I was able to do some light exercising/walking on a treadmill. A couple more days and I tried doing a spin class at the gym. It felt okay until an hour after the spin class and then felt very strained again. I stayed off it pretty much for a couple of weeks and then slowly started exercising again. A month went by and I was exercising quite a bit again. However, when I tried another uphill and downhill hike again (with only a light daypack) I strained it again slightly. The next day I tried a snow mountaineering class at Mount Rainier and it felt fine, but when I removed the heavy mountaineering boots and walked in tennis shoes, the pain immediately returned. Do you think it's simply a muscle pull that needs more time to heal, or could it be compartment syndrome and how would I tell the difference? Do I need to start with my family doctor or a sport medicine doctor? How long should this take to heal? Any suggestions or advice will be appreciated.
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