Calf muscle tear timeline?

[hitek79]

I was doing some sprints a few months ago and really jacked up my calf. Couldn't really walk on it for the rest of the day. At about 8 weeks I thought it was feeling pretty good, so I did some various exercises to test it out, and I could tell that it was still wasn't 100% Now I'm another month out from that, and after testing it some today, I don't think it's progressed at all from that point. Anyone had anything similar, and what was your timeline for recovery? Thanks.

[AdironRider]

Are you sure its not an achilles injury? My partial rupture produced similar symptoms, where there seemed to be no improvement over months.

[old goat]

How far is the injury between back of knee and ankle--a third of the way down, 3/4 of the way down, etc?

[GeezerSteve]

In 2003 I tore the lateral head of the gastrocnemius muscle during an ultramarathon, resulting in a DNF. (Medial head tears are more common, sometimes called "tennis leg.") My injury was sudden, manifested by a "pop" and intense pain. It was a Grade 2 tear according to my ortho and PT bud. Took a full 2 months before I could hike on it with a stiff-soled mountaineering boot, another month before I could run flat terrain without fear of reinjury, another month (4 months total) before I resumed running and hiking hilly trails on soft-soled shoes. YMMV cuz there's a broad range of recovery times for muscle tears.

[mcski]

Ripped mine around 10 years ago when my binding heel didn't release in a weird fall. Pop. It's still not right. Never did get back into running after that. It's worth seeing an ortho. Doesn't bother me on skis or bike, but aches more than it should during some exercises and is still kind of balled up compared to other calf.

[hitek79]

How far is the injury between back of knee and ankle--a third of the way down, 3/4 of the way down, etc?

It's between half way down and 2/3rds I'd say. When I flex my calf it's only about an inch below the main meat of the muscle there.

[hitek79]

I've been snowboarding and mountain biking on it this winter with no issues. I don't ever do any long distance running, but I do like doing short sprints a couple of times a week, which I've just swapped out for on the rower or elliptical. Where it really gets annoying is when I'm out hiking with my photography gear and trying to jump or climb something. That's when I kind of second guess it.

[old goat]

Sounds like it's well above the achilles tendon. these muscle tears do take a long time to heal, especially since people invariably start doing too much too soon. Pretty standard in pro-sports--someone tweaks a hamstring, comes back too soon, reinjures it and goes out again. Usually lasts until the season is over. All you can really do is give it time and take it as easy as your psyche allows. You can see a doc and they might prescribe some treatment to justify the visit but I doubt it will do you much good.

[hoarhey]

tried a hero turn in a technical chute and got high sided and fell backwards
I had a backward twisting fall and felt some pain in my left calf during the fall
not sure if I hit something or it happened just before heel release on the binding

I was able to ski out, but could barely weight my left ski

swollen calf, pain about 2/3 of the way up from base of calf

now about 48 hours out, walking with severe limp with a cam walking boot
pain has reduced considerably with aggressive rest, elevation and icing
swelling is still pronounced
no discoloration yet

will get in to see pt this week

found this website from aus-land

http://physioworks.com.au/injuries-c...f-muscle-tears

some good info about need to eventually build concentric strength and then eccentric strength

I'll follow up with my experience as I go along

date of injury: Saturday, March 28, 1:00 pm

[neufox47]

When I partially tore the small muscle at the top of my calf it took a while to heal. I kept tweaking it and started doing a lot of soft tissue work on it, then the tweeking went away.

[Dexter Rutecki]

Fuck. Timelines up above are a lot longer than I wanted to see. Wrecked myself Sunday doing something stupid (mental note: don't ski fast GS turns on SL race skis through loose chunder/crust in bad visibility--actually, probably best to stop using those skis period).

Could barely walk Sunday, somewhat better yesterday, still pretty painful and hampering mobility. Been icing, wrapping, etc. a whole lot (put a little heat on last night and then iced some more). Pain is probably halfway up the calf, I think it also pulled on something that extends into my knee (some weird pain around the upper, inside of the patella and possibly a bit of swelling, but very minor). I guess it's just a waiting game? I have to be back on snow Thursday for a clinic, but actually think skiing (kind of mostly side-slipping, probably) is easier than walking right now.

No tricks to help this along? Should I be trying to stretch it at all? Pretty ridiculously tight right now.

edit: this is a pretty good thread for this bullshit as well: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...lf+muscle+tear

[skideeppow]

Fuck. Timelines up above are a lot longer than I wanted to see. Wrecked myself Sunday doing something stupid (mental note: don't ski fast GS turns on SL race skis through loose chunder/crust in bad visibility--actually, probably best to stop using those skis period).

Could barely walk Sunday, somewhat better yesterday, still pretty painful and hampering mobility. Been icing, wrapping, etc. a whole lot (put a little heat on last night and then iced some more). Pain is probably halfway up the calf, I think it also pulled on something that extends into my knee (some weird pain around the upper, inside of the patella and possibly a bit of swelling, but very minor). I guess it's just a waiting game? I have to be back on snow Thursday for a clinic, but actually think skiing (kind of mostly side-slipping, probably) is easier than walking right now.

No tricks to help this along? Should I be trying to stretch it at all? Pretty ridiculously tight right now.

edit: this is a pretty good thread for this bullshit as well: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...lf+muscle+tear

Buy a power dot unit. They really help increase blood flow, and healing tissue.

[Jong Lafitte]

Ugh. Get better Dex I feel for you, sounds like you got it way worse. Hope it holds up for you today, good luck. I got one last weekend; mine seems pretty minor (no visible bruising and minimal swelling) but yikes. Its interesting that several people in this thread and the other thread mentioned the same type of fall. Over the edge, backwards fall. I was in the trees going pretty slow and had the same type of fall; my boot twisted out of the toe piece as the heel was still locked down when I looked. (I Guess that toe piece is working) It really got at the lower muscle when I twisted, about half way up the lower leg. Hurt right away and I couldn't really put weight on the ski. I stood around at the base for a while and decided that maybe skiing would be easier than walking based on how things were feeling but I tried a couple more runs and it just kept hurting bad enough that I just couldn't drive a turn with that leg.

FF 4 days and I can walk normally and just have some residual soreness but what's kind of a pain about it is that I think these muscles engage a lot when you're trying to put some weight on the shovels and its hard to replicate that to try to see what is going to feel like when I ski on it. Unfortunately, we're not gettign much snow so I'm not going to rush.

[OldMan]

Tore my left calf 2 years ago and then my right calf last year. Both slow motion falls. Left calf took a full year to recover and even now cramps up very easily. Took about 6 weeks to recover enough to move normally and was strong enough by September to back country hunt ok. Right calf was about 1/2 the tear and recovered mostly in about a month and is really just now getting back to normal strength.

Painful sombitch when they tear. Rest with help most.

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[Dexter Rutecki]

Ugh. Get better Dex I feel for you, sounds like you got it way worse. Hope it holds up for you today, good luck. I got one last weekend; mine seems pretty minor (no visible bruising and minimal swelling) but yikes. Its interesting that several people in this thread and the other thread mentioned the same type of fall. Over the edge, backwards fall. I was in the trees going pretty slow and had the same type of fall; my boot twisted out of the toe piece as the heel was still locked down when I looked. (I Guess that toe piece is working) It really got at the lower muscle when I twisted, about half way up the lower leg. Hurt right away and I couldn't really put weight on the ski. I stood around at the base for a while and decided that maybe skiing would be easier than walking based on how things were feeling but I tried a couple more runs and it just kept hurting bad enough that I just couldn't drive a turn with that leg.

FF 4 days and I can walk normally and just have some residual soreness but what's kind of a pain about it is that I think these muscles engage a lot when you're trying to put some weight on the shovels and its hard to replicate that to try to see what is going to feel like when I ski on it. Unfortunately, we're not gettign much snow so I'm not going to rush.

Yeah, went fine today--skiing much easier than walking, as I thought it might be (not that I was hammering that side, and it definitely hurt sometimes when it got jolted around). I really think aggressive icing and wrapping was good (still doing it), and I'm seeing my ortho tomorrow (figured PT might be a good idea, and I want to know what happened to my knee). Still limping but way, way better than the first two days when I was close to completely immobile. Probably won't keep up healing at this rate, but if I'm optimistic I could see being nearly all better inside of four weeks. We'll see.

Of course my preferred PT is also everyone else's preferred PT, and her next evaluation opening is 3 weeks away...guess I'll be seeing someone else, which kind of sucks.

[Dexter Rutecki]

So, just to sort of bring this (hopefully) to a conclusion, I saw my ortho three days ago and he basically said I just have to wait, start stretching as tolerated, and then get into strengthening. Gave me (I guess not 'gave' since I had to pay) a ridiculously priced calf compression sleeve, which I guess is slightly better than the ace I had been using.

He said 3 weeks if I'm luck, up to 3 months if I'm not. Based on how it has gone so far I'm optimistic about 3 weeks--I went from being borderline completely immobile (I woulda used crutches if they weren't in storage) for two days to walking about 80% normally (still with a limp) about 3 days later. So considering where it started, not that bad.

Skied mostly normally yesterday--fortunately in a ski boot you're obviously not moving the ball of your foot lower than your heel (think pushing off of the front of your foot) which is what I still pretty much can't do, so I was able to ski at speed, lay the skis over, hit downhill ski hard, etc., which was pretty cool. Could be worse (but it sill kind of sucks).

[Viva]

I suffered a partial tear of the left calf during the 2004 Utah Mini via the tried & true slow backward fall. Fucker hurt like Hell and left foot turned blue. I immediately visited my massage therapist for what turned out to be a fifteen minute session. There wasn't much he could do for me initially due to the amount of inflammation. Saw him again two days later for thirty minutes and again a couple days after for an hour. Made a hudge difference to my recovery. Two weeks following the injury I skied again, and three weeks later I was running (Could have run at two weeks, but wanted to ski).

Two weeks from injury to normal physical activity.

So, what am I getting at? Absent a complete tear or release, screw the orthopods and PTs whenever you suffer a muscle injury like this. See a card-carrying sports massage specialist and work the shit out of the injury. You can get recommendations for one at any running or cycling store (road cycling store- mountain bikers massage each other 'cause they're fags).

Good luck, Dex.

[rod9301]

Good luck.
I would not stretch a lot before the muscle healed. What you did is mega stretch that muscle, so stretching is going to aggravate it.

You need a lot of blood supply there.

12 minutes heat, 20 ice, a few times a day.

You can always stay l stretch it later.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[Dexter Rutecki]

I suffered a partial tear of the left calf during the 2004 Utah Mini via the tried & true slow backward fall. Fucker hurt like Hell and left foot turned blue. I immediately visited my massage therapist for what turned out to be a fifteen minute session. There wasn't much he could do for me initially due to the amount of inflammation. Saw him again two days later for thirty minutes and again a couple days after for an hour. Made a hudge difference to my recovery. Two weeks following the injury I skied again, and three weeks later I was running (Could have run at two weeks, but wanted to ski).

Two weeks from injury to normal physical activity.

So, what am I getting at? Absent a complete tear or release, screw the orthopods and PTs whenever you suffer a muscle injury like this. See a card-carrying sports massage specialist and work the shit out of the injury. You can get recommendations for one at any running or cycling store (road cycling store- mountain bikers massage each other 'cause they're fags).

Good luck, Dex.

Good to hear. In a ski boot it's actually pretty good already (hiking still sucks, although if it's steep enough to just jam the toe of the boot in it's almost normal). I have a PT appointment (actually a bunch of them) and will see how it goes. Improvement was so fast over the first few days, but I can sense now that it's going to go a lot slower before it feels completely normal again (and I'm not sure how much longer until I'm not limping at all anymore).

Good luck.
I would not stretch a lot before the muscle healed. What you did is mega stretch that muscle, so stretching is going to aggravate it.

You need a lot of blood supply there.

12 minutes heat, 20 ice, a few times a day.

You can always stay l stretch it later.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

Yeah, I just asked my PT for advice on stretching. I read that you can start stretching 'as tolerated,' and gentle stretches right now are just slightly uncomfortable, but not painful. I'm not going to go crazy and risk doing further damage. I'll update possible stretches when I hear back from my PT. Wondering how soon I can start strengthening, also.

[Boissal]

I tore my calf muscle a few years ago while rock climbing. I was liebacking a corner walking my feet on the slab in front me, started getting pumped in my legs, dropped my heels a bit to stretch my calves, and felt my right heel drop an inch or two with a disgusting muscle tearing sensation. I belly flopped on a ledge above in full panic mode with no idea wft had happened. The inside part of my calf was visibly separated with a small section in its regular place (bottom of the muscle), a very obvious dent, and the upper part of the muscle looking balled up and rotated inward. The hike out took over 1.5 hours (20 minutes on the way in, overgrown steep shitty terrain) and I had to hit the clutch pedal with my left foot once I got to the car. I drove straight to an ortho surgeon friend who diagnosed a solid grade 2 tear and reassured me I wouldn't die or need surgery since the tear was high above the Achilles and, in his words, you don't reattach meat to itself, you let it heal.

He recommended walking on it and stretching it gently after a couple of week but not immobilizing the limb (boot/crutches/scooter) as it can lead to the muscle shortening while healing. I ended up wearing a tight compression sock for a month and walking around a whole bunch at work which was slow as hell as I couldn't tolerate any stretching in the calf for over 2 weeks and could only take half steps with my bad leg forward. I was constantly getting shocks of pain when trying to hurry and taking real steps. It ended up screwing up my hips and back and took me about 6 weeks to walk without a limp. I had a couple scares on the bike for another month or so when I would backpedal or just drop my heel and get serious pain in the calf. All in all it bothered me for about 4 months and it took a full year to feel like I was back to full strength. My first few ski outings were 6 month post injury and every time I got tossed in the back seat the pressure from the boot would make me yelp in pain. Even now after 4 years of putting a ton of miles on the bike, on trails, climbing, etc... the muscle is still not back to its normal shape.

TL;DR - Take it easy, be diligent with rehab. Patience is key, pain is good feedback. Good luck

[mcski]

Ripped mine around 10 years ago when my binding heel didn't release in a weird fall. Pop. It's still not right. Never did get back into running after that. It's worth seeing an ortho. Doesn't bother me on skis or bike, but aches more than it should during some exercises and is still kind of balled up compared to other calf.

Was about to comment, but realized I already did in original thread above. Not much change with mine. Still get a lumpy tennis ball burn in back if calf if I'm walking/hiking for a long time but it's manageable. I'd guess it operates at about 80% strength level. No issue skiing or biking, but it's aggravating knowing it's not likely ever gonna feel quite normal

It did provide a good story when it happened though and somewhere I have some video. I torn it in an awkward fall during a Cat ski trip w Scot Schmidt. After I fell, I hadn't realized what really happened to my leg until I started skiing again down to the cat and realized I had no control. About the same time the realization struck that I was in an unstoppable straight line, I looked up and Schmidt was coming across the hill straight toward me. I Wasn't too worried about it at first, figuring he would turn, but he didn't. We just kept getting closer and closer and at higher and higher rates of speed. I thought a collision was gonna be unavoidable because he was clearly expecting me to turn and I couldn't. We both finally deployed the air brakes, plastered each other with snow, and scraped skis at the last possible moment. Somehow impact was avoided, but I'm not sure how. Of course, I fell and he didn't. But that's how I almost took out Scot Schmidt.