Prior Gastrocnemius Tear

[LyndaJ]

Hello,

I am wondering if there are others out there who have experienced a tear. I had a tear 8 weeks after starting running last year. I took 2 months off and did physio including laser treatments.

I have now been running again for almost 10 months, but I am very aware of any pain occurring in the same calf. I understand that tears can recur and I am paranoid about it.

Look forward to hearing your comments.

Many thanks,

Lynda

[Jwolf]

Haven't had a gastrocs tear (although I think Andy has-- paging HCcD...), but I've had lot of issues with my calves and Achilles tendons (strains, tendonsis, etc.). You can get a bit hyper-vigilant about any mild discomfort in the area. Try not to overreact, while at the same time backing off at the early signs of injury. In general, if you are super careful about increasing your load of both volume and intensity, you should be ok. Be careful about following standard training plans that may jump up too quickly for your liking. I have learned I need to really limit the faster workouts or I suffer setbacks.

The other thing is that sometimes I get so paranoid about the old issues recurring that I don't pay attention to possible other problems. So careful about that.

Good luck.

[kab]

I wore stability shoes for a year after I had a tear. I gradually went back to regular cushion shoes. Pronation puts a lot of stress on those muscles so best to avoid. My tear came out of the blue, no symptoms to suggest that something was up other than I was wearing shoes that I was unhappy with. Hope yours is fully recovered soon.

[LyndaJ]

Thanks very much for your advice.

My tear also came out of the blue. I think that is what also scares me.

I will try not to worry.