Vente Pain Relief Clinic

Introduction

Calf pain and tightness can be annoying. It can become chronic where it can impact your daily activities. It can impact your training. You can have a slow down on your pace, training for that marathon, half marathon or triathlon. This segment of 8 Questions addresses questions regarding calf pain and tightness. Watch the set of videos to learn more

Some ways your calf can become tight

1. Lack of stretching. This can be a case where the patient can be very active. They are usually endurance-type of athletes such as marathon runners, triathletes and cycling athletes. Typically most train the calves hard without stretching to negate the amount of work these muscles are doing. Over time these muscles can become super tight. This can also be the case where the calves can become tight because of sitting for prolonged periods. A perfect example is one who is an office worker.
2. Calf pain and tightness can also be caused by improper footwear. If for example, you have feet that are very mobile. It can be because of flat feet. Generally flat feet are more mobile mechanically. This can cause the deep muscle of the calf to become overworked. These deep muscles run down the shin and attach to the arch. A deep calf muscle, Tibialis Posterior, serves to stabilize your arch. This happens as you walk and run. Clinically, what I have observed over time is that the superficial calf muscles can be relatively soft. The patient will complain of calf pain and tightness. The possible reason for this, is that the deeper calf muscles are the reason for the symptoms.
3. Referral from tight hip and glute muscles. There is a muscle that is deep in the buttock area that can cause symptoms of calf pain and tightness. This muscle in the glute is predisposed to tightness. In fact it is a very common muscle involved with hip pain. This muscle can also refer pain and tightness into the calf and heel. The name of this muscle is the Piriformis. This structure is involved with motions such as running hills. When this muscle become tight and short it can do two things. These two things refer pain down the thigh and leg. The first way that it can cause symptoms is that the muscle can press on the Sciatic nerve. This nerve travels from you lower back, through the Piriformis and down the thigh and leg. When the nerve is pressed it can become irritated. This can cause pain and tightness down the thigh towards the calf and heel. The second way that it can cause calf pain and tightness is via trigger points in the muscle. These “knots” can refer pain and tightness down the thigh towards the calf and back of the foot.

These are just 3 ways. Watch the video and I give more of a breakdown.

Is stretching enough?

In short stretching is a great way to prevent and maintain issues with calf pain and tightness. This also includes foam rolling. These two are great when the muscles and fascia are relatively mobile. Having said this. Over time, we naturally tend to “forget” to stretch or foam roll. At the very least, we minimize the amount of time we perform these activities. You will eventually need a therapist to work on the muscles and fascia to manually and aggressively loosen the areas.

If you are a runner and are getting calf tightness from running, you will probably understand this. It has happened to you in the past. It can also be happening currently.

Treatment

Depending on how tight the areas are, it can be very uncomfortable. It can become doubly uncomfortable if the issue is also tied to the buttocks. The Piriformis can become very tight and can exacerbate the condition.

It can be triply painful if the fascia is also involved. Just imagine, tight fascia plus tight calves plus tight Piriformis equals a certain amount of pain.

Having said this. Using deep tissue massage and techniques with the fascia is very effective in relieving calf pain and tightness.

If you have calf pain and tightness, contact us. We can discuss your treatment to aggressively loosen the area.

More Resources:

Do you have more questions, visit our FAQ page. Here is a simple tip to maximize your calf stretches.