Knots in Calf Muscles (Read 18682 times)

Nobby, They are Brooks Trance 6. Trained in them for my first marathon, no problems. My calves got tight sometimes then too, but I think my body was not so beat-up then, and could take it. I hurt my feet with too much fast running last spring and wear orthotics now. Have not switched shoes, but have considered going to a neutral shoe. I am a slight over-pronator, but you'd think the orthotics would fix things so that you wouldn't need the over-pronation shoes? It's confussing to me. No problems with my feet right now but all injuries I had last year seem to point to tight calves. I know what you mean about winter changing your stride. I don't think I have achilles issues, but you think I should try a neutral shoe?

Bugs: If the car runs (and runs well), don't fix it. I'm sure you feel like, for as much as you've paid for the orthotics (I'm sure they weren't, like, $12! ;o)), you'd think they should fix all the problems... Arthur Lydiard used to say that it's the shoe, in most cases, that needs orthotics, not your feet! I wouldn't agree with him 100%, but he's got point. I took a look at the shoe you wear and they seem seriously heavy-built! If they don't fix your over-pronation problem, you'd wonder, what would? The thing I wouldn't like about is the thickness of those shoes. I shouldn't just say "thickness"; more correctly, the difference between the thickness of forefoot area and the thickness of the heel. The greater this difference, the less you'd be stretching your Achilles. If you do indeed have tight Achilles tendon and it's causing all sorts of your problems; then you should consider stretching it, not "pampering" it. Wearing heavy-duty "stability" shoes with thick heel or slipping orthotics, to me, is what we call "tampering". It may mask the immediate problem but it's not solving the cause of the issue. You know how some companies do their business; when the business is not going well, they'll stop investing into R&D (no more quality products!), lay-off employees, charge employees to drink coffee... They'll pick some bucks here and there. What would happen 2 years down the road? All the quality employees get fed up and leave the company; no new products are coming out; reputation went down the drain... You may get into chronical depression state! That's the result of "tampering". Now, I understand (those of you who are management!) that, when you don't have any money, you've got to do SOMETHING! It may not be the right choice but it has to be done... Yet, you should still look at the long-term affect of the action. If your calves feel tight, that means, obviously, muscles are not as elastic. There's a higher chance of getting injured when your muscles are like that; yet, some GENTLE stretching, in a form of easy jogging, personally should be prescribed. Of course, living in MN, you can't go out and run around a soccer field barefoot (! ;o)) but consider something like that. I just found there's a indoor soccer field near-by and it has a nice synthetic grass--I'm thinking about going there once a week and do some sprint drills including barefoot running... Regular stretching, like stepping on the edge of the step, and get your heels up and down, should also help. If your calves are always tight, I would use something like "The Stick" to massage the hell out of them! (and I have done things like that myself before...). But like I said, if you have tight calves and if you know that they are causing all sorts of other problems, your goal should be stretch them out; not to elevate them to make them even shorter.

Hey, Bugs: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to depress you! If it's any consolation, I worked the place like that for 5 flipping years! Make a big "L" with your thumb/index fiinger and put them on your foreheard and say..."L" for love! Now first thing's first: I never said "stretching is bad". Though I don't stretch much, I'm not necessarily against it (if done correctly). I think you should stretch. You see, if you wear "low-profile" shoes with minimal difference of thickness between forefoot and heel, you'll be stretching your Achilles every step of the way. Yes, usually orthotics are glorified arch supporter. Main reason for such device is to support the arc (duh!) from collapsing or rolling "inward" too far (over-pronation). Some of the oldies here should remember shoes like Nike Mariah or American Eagle or Air Edge? Those were hard-core racing shoes; you flip them over and the sole lookes like a foot; no extra at all. You put a shoe like that on your foot; you'll feel the shoe material runs against your arch--it fits perfectly. Now they make shoes more like a brick. You flip them over and they...look like a brick too! ;o) Now there's a definite "gap" between your arch and the shoe; something's got to fill in... You fill that in with insole or orthotics. In fact, if you do that, now you have "material" underneath your arch; so this would help "weak arch" from collapsing under your foot. This was the concept of "straight last" shoe way in the beginning. Lydiard didn't like this idea because 1) straight last shoe could create more problem; and 2) if you have a weak arch, you need to strengthen it. Well, it's not that simple. There's structural problem and/or mechanical problem and some people DO need something extra to support. But it should not be a quick fix. Now, it's interesting to read your history; if I read it correctly, you had a foot injury (which, by the way, most likely weakened your foot), your arch started to collaps. So you started wearing orthotics and now you started having Achilles and tendon problems and tight calves... Sounds like a typical cycle! My wife had a torn ACL this past Christmas and she just had a surgery a few weeks ago. After one week of not using her left leg in heavy-duty brace, she took it off when we visited the doctor for the first time after surgery. Her left quads were VISIBLY atrophied! Just one week! So what did doctor prescribe? She told her to start strengthening her left quads--first just by tightening it... Yes, baby steps. It seems to me, injuring your foot weakened your foot (arch). Instead of gaining strength back, you over-supported it by putting extra foam and/or orthotics under it. Adding orthotics into your shoe probably exaggerated the heel lift and tightened your Achilles tendon exessively??? What you probably need to do is to go back and start strengthening your feet...baby steps! As soon as you can do it, I would start including walking barefoot; then slowly adding easy jogging barefoot (preferrably on grass) in your program--once a week or so. There are exercises like pinching something with your toes or picking up wet towel with your toes, etc. to strengthen your foot; you should look into them and start doing some of that as well. I think any kind of stretching or strengthening exercise would be helpful--I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with Graston Treatment, but that sounds good! ;o) One thing, though (I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so negative sounding!)...swimming! If you enjoy it, certainly I wouldn't make you (or recommend you) to stop it; but swimming tends to tighten your Achilles tendon/calves (think about the position)... It is an excellent exercise and it DOES stretch out your entire body except, sorry, for your calves! You probably want to schedule a nice sauna or something and do extra stretching of your calves and massaging them afterward or something like that. You go to the store and put one of those high tech shoes on; stand around and walk around a bit... Most of them would feel very comfortable. They are nice and soft and cuddle around your tired feet. They feel very nice. And that's why most of us love them. Beats wearing leather shoes or high heel, right? (or ski boots!) But are they really helping you functionally? Well, unfortunately, that seems to be a little different story. There's a time to pamper things; there's a time to get tough and strengthen things a bit. Afterall, didn't "pampering" lead the nation to obesity and all sorts of health issues associated with it? I'm sorry if I sound so negative. I really don't mean to. If there's anything I can do, feel free to contact me directly as well. Oh, and by the way, just because someone (like me) said it on some internet message board, don't buy all of that! YOU should know best in the end and sometimes your own instinct would lead you best. So don't dwell over things too much. BUT if it makes sense, then pay a little more careful attention to it. Now for your tax... ;o)

Nobby, I think I finally get it, and the way you described it, my injuries all make sense. I am reading the Runners Repair Manual and it says much the same; about collapsing arch, stretching calf muscles and feet. I am guility of following the podiatrist's orders, and not thinking for myself. You get injured, it's mentally exhausing, and panic sets in. I should have known when he told me my feet hurt because of my age. Good to know about the swimming, thought my only fear there was shoulder injuries. Seems it is just as easy to injure yourself with XTing. The graston is a deep massage that helps heal the soft tissue damage but won't stop the injury from re-occurring. I believe I do need to work my feet back into at least the original shoes I was wearing. I will do it slowly. Thanks for the reminder, I don't do slowly well. RacingThoughts, I see what you mean...before 2006 I did kickboxing 4 x week for 45 minutes. It was all barefeet, jumping on a mat, kicking a bag. I believe I went into running with the strongest feet and tendons ever and really helped me run without issues. When my legs are healthier maybe I can work a modified version of this. Put the podiatrist face on the bag and punch away.

Bugs, I definitely think you're overcorrecting with the orthotics plus shoes to correct pronation. The main way the orthotics correct overpronation is by the "post" in the heel. It's essentially like putting a wedge under the instep side of your heel so that your foot doesn't roll inward. Of course orthotics also keep your arches from collapsing too, but if it was JUST arch support, you'd still overpronate. That's usually why arch supports alone don't help overpronators. Then you just overpronate with more of an arch. I think finding a good neutral shoe would correct a lot of your problems. I'm a moderate overpronator and I use orthotics. Without them I get shin splints so bad they keep me up at night...it's painful even for the blanket to contact my shins. Still, even with such a problem, I run in Saucony Triumph 5, which is a soft neutral shoe and don't have any problems. Your feet may have changed because of your injury, and your orthotics definitely change your biomechanics. You're going to need to change the shoe you wear to match those changes or you'll only get more injuries.