Calf Pain: The Difference Between Muscle Tear and Muscle Overload
Posted on 17th January 2021 at 16:36
During physical activities such as running or exercise class, your calf takes a large amount of stress. When our muscles experience this stress, they begin to wear down. If not appropriately looked after with rest, recovery and stretches, they can become damaged.
Experiencing calf pain during exercise can make us anxious that we have pulled, or even torn a muscle. However, this may not be the case, it may simply be muscle overload, also known as biomechanical overload syndrome. One tell-tale sign of muscle overload is the recovery. If the calf pain quickly stops after exercise, or is only felt during exercise, then it will most likely be muscle overload.
Calf Muscle Tear
A calf muscle tear involves a structural change in the muscle. This occurs when the muscle is overstretched, resulting in damaged muscle fibres. The pain of a torn calf muscle feels intense and continuous whenever the muscle contracts or stretches, until it has fully healed.
To begin with, a torn calf muscle needs rest from intense or hard exercises while healing takes place. Once the structural integrity of the calf has restored to level where there is no discomfort whilst moving, a gradual return to exercise and strength and conditioning can begin.
Muscle Overload
Muscle overload, or biomechanical overload syndrome, is often the result of muscle fatigue which happens when you exceed the load capacity of your muscle. Unlike a tear, the structure of your muscle does not change.
The symptoms of muscle overload are usually a gradual tightening or aching sensation during exercise, leading to the muscle feeling like it may cramp. These symptoms will ease with rest only to return when exercise recommences.
The calf pain caused by biomechanical overload syndrome can be very similar to pain during exercise which is referred from:
The lumbar spine
Nerve irritation
Restricted neural mobility
Vascular disease
It is important to identify if these are factors that could be contributing to your pain. If you have any concerns about what is causing your pain, you should see your physiotherapist or doctor for an assessment.
Treating calf muscle overload involves reducing your exercise load to a level where there is no pain and strengthening your calf muscle to improve its load capacity. You should also strengthen muscles involved in propulsion (Glutes, Hamstrings and Quadriceps). This ensures that the calf is not having to work any harder to make up for a lack of contribution from these muscles.
What’s Next?
If you feel you would like further assistance with any calf pain problem you have, please get in touch with us. At Colchester Physiotherapy & Sports Injury Clinic we are able to complete a thorough assessment of your calf pain and assist in your treatment journey.
Author
Craig Fowlie
Craig is a highly specialized physiotherapist with post graduate qualifications in Acupuncture and Sports and Exercise Medicine.
He has worked with Professional Rugby sides in New Zealand and has assisted Great Britain Table Tennis at the World Team Championships and Olympic Qualifiers in Qatar and Germany. He is a consultant for the Governments Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme and has published and presented research in the Journal of Physiotherapy and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Annual Conference.
Outside of work he enjoys participating socially in triathlon and running.
Tagged as: calf pain, colchester physiotherapist, Colchester Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic, injury advice, physio really helps, quality assured clinic, sport injury
Share this post:
