Rehabbing a Calf Injury!

Training Powerlifting
1

I recently sustained what I believe is a pulled or partially torn left calf. This happened Monday during ME squatting.

I lost a squat forward for the first time…ever. I wasn’t as focused as I should have been, got sloppy, and went down. It didn’t seem to hurt me, and I finished the rest of my workout chastened and embarrassed.

The next morning, my left calf felt tight, but I figured “well I lost the squat forward so it must just be residual soreness from a sudden stretch in the calf” and went to ME upper day. It loosened up after a while in the morning and was mostly fine, occasionally twinged but nothing to worry about.

The next morning it’s significantly stiffer, but still loosened up and was ok. I figured it had mostly worked itself out.

Today, however was DE squat day and while it seemed fine during box squats, the 2nd set of lunges started to tighten it up. I rested, did another 2 sets, minor tightening. I figured I’d front squat deep today, and you can guess how that went.

Fortunately, I had sense enough to stop when it started to tighten and cramp instead of trying to work through it.

Now I need some advice on how to rehab it and get back to 100%. Major problem #1–I umpire 4 baseball games tomorrow and that entails lots of running (which I haven’t tried on it), and some squatting.

Major problem #2–I don’t actually know what muscle it is–no bruising (good), and (looking from a posterior view) it’s on the outside half of the calf, below the main bulk of the gastroc/soleus.

Anyone who’s suffered a similar injury would be more than welcome to share their secrets!

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Sounds like it’s on your achilles or the achilles junction with one of the two muscles. I have a similar injury currently. give running a try - I can manage, it just becomes sore and almost painful. If its really painful, then you’ll just have to stop. Ideally you would rest it, only doing activities which cause no pain during the exercise, a few hours later, and the morning after.

Also, take anti-inflammation medicine (like ibuprofen, in large doses), and compress the affected area. Ice helps too, but only apply it for max 10mins at a time. If you can dip your legs in cold (10?) water, that’s good too - again, no more than 10mins (I found this really helped).

Main thing though is rest. You don’t want achilles to turn into a long term injury.