Nooooooooooo! (vember)

[El Gordo]

Finally ventured out for a run today... and almost immediately had to abort! Two days ago I managed to pull my left calf muscle (doing nothing in particular, just to make it all the more annoying), and thought by now it was OK, but after just a hundred metres or so, I could tell it wasn't at all "OK", so I turned it into a walk instead.

Aha! A pulled left calf muscle? You've come to the right place. Do please come in and take a seat....

First of all, it may not be a pull. Could well be just a strain which seems is the trouble I had last winter (several times). Strain is much better as it will heal more quickly. A pull, or worse, a tear, is bad news and may have you out of action for several weeks.

So the first thing is to have it diagnosed if unsure. That said, if you can walk on it, it doesn't sound too serious.

As for treatment, you need to rest it. A neoprene calf strap will help a lot. There's no short cut.

Trouble is, if it happens once, it can happen again. You can help prevent that with a sports massage, stretching (targetted at the calf), and by using compression when you run, either with the calf support mentioned, or a compression sock.