Calf muscle pain

[Slashmb]

I have really bad pain in my calf muscles on both legs. It's from a session at the gym on Tuesday morning. I can hardly walk its that bad.

I have been having aches and pains in my knees for the last 2 years and have now been offered the gym sessions to build up all muscles around the knees. The first time was ok and I thought it would really benefit me. The second one was this week and I've had 3 days of agony!

Can anyone offer advice on this please.

The knees feel a lot better though.

TIA.

[Sparta VAG]

I struggled with this for a long time, I got a repeated pain in the middle of my calf (soleus muscles).

Turned out I was slightly flat footed and this meant that the strain of exercise was putting uneven wear on my calf muscle.

I spent a tenner on some insoles for my trainers to correct my feet and never had the problem since.

[goldblum]

What exercises did you do for your legs?

[mattikake]

Slashmb said:

I have really bad pain in my calf muscles on both legs. It's from a session at the gym on Tuesday morning. I can hardly walk its that bad.

I have been having aches and pains in my knees for the last 2 years and have now been offered the gym sessions to build up all muscles around the knees. The first time was ok and I thought it would really benefit me. The second one was this week and I've had 3 days of agony!

Can anyone offer advice on this please.

The knees feel a lot better though.

TIA.

Uh-oh. My cowboy personal trainer detector is tingling like a mofo...

Muscles around knees? Er, there aren't any. Knees are all tendons, ligaments, bursa pads, articular cartilage and synovil fluid sacs. Common/non-injury related knee pain usually centres around AC damage/wear and fixing this is often about ejecting floaters.

Depends on what exercise you did many extremes from spinal stress to muscular destruction - If it involved heavy lifting to do some squats, deads, calf raises etc., it could be nerve issues stemming from your back. If it was hugely intense calf exercises, it could be simple DOMS.

So it depends on what type of pain you're feeling. Sharp, shooting, sore, burning, tingling, pins and needles, stabbing, bruising. And is it constant or only when the muscles are activated? They all mean different things and can be critical to diagnosis.

Have you ever been diagnosed before exercise? If so, by whom and how?

[Slashmb]

The gym sessions are at my local hospital via the physio rehab centre. They have decided I have housemaids knee from kneeling a lot at work.

I do 20 exercises of one minute 30 seconds. They include leg raises, balance boards, bridging, pushing a gym ball against the wall with my foot, lunges, step ups, sitting down and standing up, sliding up and down a bench at 45 degrees and an exercise bike.

The pain is worse when going down stairs but is there all the time. I can't stretch the calf and contracting it is uncomfortable too.

Thank you for replies so far. Hopefully I can walk normally tomorrow.

[goldblum]

Sounds like you've overworked your calf muscles.

[230TE]

I had exactly this problem when I first started running. I tried calf stretching exercises and the problem went away. With luck your problem might be as simple as that.

http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/flexibilityexe...

[Tiggsy]

Calves are VERY sensative to DOMS - i find a good foam roll session (or sports massage if I have the cash) sorts it fine.