Struggling with tight calves or calf pain when exercise?

Some of the most common reasons why people get painful or tight calves from exercise are:

l Training errors/changes

l Change of shoes

l You've upset a nerve

l Muscle tears

l Medial tibial stress (shin splints)

Training errors that may cause tight or painful calves

Any change in your training routine that will cause a sudden increase in load on the calf muscles may cause them to tighten up or hurt. The two best examples are speed work and hilly runs – both of these training sessions force you to run more on your toes, which will increase the load on the calf muscles.

For the same reason, changing your running style to running more on your mid foot or forefoot can cause trouble if you introduce it too quickly.

Interestingly, a study of 1500 recreational runners have found that running less than 40km per week and being a member of an athletics club appears to protect you against calf injuries! One could argue that being a member of a club may give you access to better training advice, but the researchers did not investigate this further.

I would advise "relative rest" if you suspect that training errors may have caused your calf issues. Relative rest means that you don't have to cease all exercise, but just choose sessions that will allow the injured or aggravated body part to recover e.g. cycle, swim or do a shorter easy run on grass. Introduce speed work, hills or changes in running style gradually to prevent calf pain and injury.

Shoes that may cause calf pain

Most runners these days know about "minimalist"shoes that claim to make you run more naturally. However, I find that a lot of the runners I see in practice have never heard of or considered the heel-to-toe-drop (offset) when buying a new trainer.

The heel-to-toe-drop basically tells you how much higher your heel is than your toes when you're wearing the trainer. Standard running shoes usually have a drop of around 12 degrees, but you can get 8, 6, 4 and 0 degrees as well. Minimalist shoes typically have a 0 degree heel-toe-drop (your foot is essentially flat).

A flatter shoe will force most people to change their running style to run more on their toes. As mentioned in the section above, this will increase the load on the calf muscles. Your calves may become overworked and sore if you transition too quickly from a regular trainer to a flatter one.

If you want to make a transition to flatter shoes, I would suggest that you:

l Transition slowly by initially doing only shorter runs in your new shoes or do some walk/run sessions.

l Strengthen your calf muscles.

l Walk in flat shoes most of the day.

You've upset a nerve

If you experience tingling, numbness, very sharp pain or a lot of pain at night, chances are that you have injured a nerve in your back. Now, before you say "But I don't have back pain!"– you often don't feel back pain when you experience pain in your leg.

This is because the pain/sensation in the leg is often too strong and blocks the pain signals from the back. As the nerve pain or funny sensations in the leg calms down, people usually start experiencing more pain in their backs.

I would suggest that you consult a physiotherapist if you are experiencing any of these symptoms.

Some muscle tears can feel like tight calves

It's usually easy to tell when you tear a muscle – you feel a sharp sudden pulling or pain and you can often see some swelling or bruising. But some muscle tears may not be this obvious. The soleus muscle, which can be found mostly in the lower 2 thirds of the calf, often just feels like it's just very stiff when you first tear it. (1) This stiffness then increases as you continue to exercise on it (this may take several sessions) until you are usually forced to stop due to pain.

If you suspect that you have torn a muscle, you should use a combination of rest and strengthening exercises until it is strong enough to run again. You may be able to cycle or swim to maintain your fitness. A physio will be able to provide you with a rehab programme that is right for your injury and takes your sporting goals into consideration.

Medial tibial stress (shin splints)

Medial tibial stress syndrome (shin splints) may initially feel just like very stiff or tight calves. People usually experience some discomfort along the inside of the shin bone – where the muscle attaches to the bone. In the beginning people usually only experiences pain in this area when exercising, but as the condition worsens they also feel pain with walking and in severe cases at rest.

You should not neglect this condition as it can easily develop into stress fractures if left unchecked. It is also a notoriously stubborn injury and may take several months to resolve (depending on how bad you allowed it to get). You should definitely consult a physiotherapist if you have pain along the inside of the shin bone (where the muscle attaches to the bone).

If you think this article is helpful, you can share to friends via social media.

source：DisuppoSport，a Sport Protection Expert.