I don’t think physio’s are seeing people at the minute so wondered if there was any way to do it online or any guides to follow to hopefully get fixed…

I’ve had an on-going problem for about a year with my right calf, feels like a strain but I’m not sure. I’ve rested it a fair bit but it seems to come back whilst running anything over 5k, just like a twinge then a tightening/swelling which makes me stop. It’s getting annoying and contributing to my lockdown weight load so want to get it sorted 🙂

Anyone had similar / used any online resources?

Cheers

I suffer the same. Have had some physio/sports massage in the past and its been helpful but you can do alot of it yourself at home with stretching and basic exercises and using a roller. My problem now is keeping up with that and staying on top of it. Injuries now occur if I don’t stick to a routine.

Physios are seeing people.
I have an appointment next week and saw one last week.

Yep. Physios are seeing people. Counts as medical care like dentists etc.

If you are near Nottingham my wife is seeing people face to face.

http://arcadia-therapy.com/

She also occasionally does video consultations if you are further away.

Im not a physio however. Do you sit down a lot? Have you got an anterior pelvic tilt?

Weak glutes, a symptom from sitting too much, will cause your hips to rotate. This in turn will make your hamstrings feel tight which in turn may tighten your calves.

Personally im an advocate of understanding why muscles are tight and addressing that, not just stretching tight muscles. Address the cause not the symptom.

Good rehab after a strain so not getting back to soon, Try to build strength doing toe raises on the flat and using stairs to allow your heel to drop. Use weights if you can to further increase the strength in you lower legs. Foam roller or tennis ball to do cross frictional massage pain allowing.
Dont bother stretching it doesnt do any good.

Agree with surfer.

Also – strengthen via the negative movement. Hang your heel over the edge of the stairs. Lower slowly so heel is below the step. Speed is a 6 count. Raise up and repeat.

I’ve had an on-going problem for about a year with my right calf, feels like a strain but I’m not sure. I’ve rested it a fair bit but it seems to come back whilst running anything over 5k, just like a twinge then a tightening/swelling which makes me stop

I had exactly the same problem almost to the letter, except that for me it would go at exactly 1k. I saw a physio and basically it was related to tight Achilles and weak calves (as others have pointed out above).

I did a month of strengthening exercises. Single leg calf raises twice a day, single legged squats (really concentrating on form – knee tracking over middle of foot, forcing off on the front of the foot) again twice a day. Both of those exercises were a bit sore on the calf at first but subsided after a couple of weeks. I then made a very gradual return to running, I kept the distance to just under the previous failure point for a couple of weeks. Since then, I have also been doing eccentric calf raises which has really helped my achilles. So far so good.

I have done physio in the past with not particularly good results. I think what worked this time was doing a very limited number of exercises but twice a day. I could quickly feel/see results particularly with the squats.

Oh course everyone is different.

That video is good, like that guy

Sounds exactly the same as happened to me over the last few weeks.. I found this video the most helpful, she really makes sense (and isn’t annoying!):
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT2qEqfg3as&ab_channel=SportsInjuryPhysio.

Cheers all, some good advice here. I think I will give some of the exercises a go – just need the discipline to get them done now 🙂