Persistent Injury(s)

NewWheels

A bit of background: Regular competitive tennis player for 20+ yeras, took up cycling 4 years go, took up running late last year and swimming this year. Have done a triathlon (short one!!) and hope to do more. Current goal though is a Half Marathon.

I have been following a programme and the progress has been steady in terms of distance. Managed my first 18km last week. However on Tuesday was doing the next otem (5k jog) and my calf got extremely tight.

This is a recurring injury that I got many years ago playing tennis. I have made a locla Physion quite rich over the years.

The advice I seek is this:
- would compression running socks or calf guards help reduce the chance of the injury?

- would a change in running style help? and if so any suggestions as to an approach to this would be welcomed

Thanks all

ecoli

While it is prohibited to give medical advice you have a few options which you could look to pursue regarding this

1) Get a second opinion from a sports therapist / sports physio with a background in treating calf injuries or sport specific injuries. If you are able to find the root cause more often than not you can look to treat the cause rather than just the symptoms. Remember muscles are connective chains which can only pull as such a problem in the calf my result from a muscular imbalance elsewhere. They should be able to prescribe a plan of action to deal with the problem and aim to look for a long term solution

2) There are running technique courses which people have used and have found very beneficial (haven't done any myself but from reports have heard good things)

Two which are fairly popular would be Championseverywhere's running form work shop and Catherina McKiernan's Chi running

If its a long term recurring problem there is no quick fix however if you don't start to see some sort of improvement over a couple of weeks with any change my advice would be to pursue another avenue (provided you are fully commited to a treatment and long term preventative approach and doing all prescribed work)

macinalli

Will try to stay away from medical advice, but if you were playing tennis for that long, then I'd guess that you've gone over on your ankle a few times. I used to play a lot of astro soccer and also picked up a number of ankle injuries. In my experience, I've found that my crap left ankle makes it difficult to stretch that achilles, which has led to problems that tend to flare up between my achilles and calf. What makes a big difference for me in these cases is to stretch the other muscles in the leg, especially the hamstring. As ecoli says, these are all connected and a bit of extra flexibility in the hamstring might relieve some of the tightness in the calf.

This might not work for you, but a bit of extra stretching won't do any harm;)

And +1 for the chi running; there are lots of threads on here with people (including me) singing it's praises!

NewWheels

Thanks to those who replied - much appreciated.

Physio tomorrow so am sure he will give advice also. I have decided though that I do need to embed stretching into my training schedule and also get some functional coaching to reduce the chances of it happening again and again and again...... you get the idea!!!

MD1990

foam rolling would be helpful

rom

2 mile warmup very slow and 2 mile cooldown on every run and injuries will dramatically reduce. 2min/mile slower than 1/2 marathon pace approx for warmup/cooldown

NewWheels

rom wrote: »

2 mile warmup very slow and 2 mile cooldown on every run and injuries will dramatically reduce. 2min/mile slower than 1/2 marathon pace approx for warmup/cooldown

Thanks Rom - yeah been a bit guilty of that one alright - will have to be more diligent in my approach.

rom

NewWheels wrote: »

Thanks Rom - yeah been a bit guilty of that one alright - will have to be more diligent in my approach.

I have got my first niggle now in two years and it's probably down to a new pair of shoes or the camber of the road. It is very important. I do zero stretching also and I feel great. Getting a good massage also once every month or two helps a lot also.

ElmMount

Was wondering if anyone could help or advise with a recent injury.

I have a background in GAA with a strong, fit enough base. I wanted to run the Dublin Marathon in October and have been training steadily since June. I bought new trainers and insoles from Elverys following a full gait analysis. I severely overpronate when I run, but particularly on the right. This was somewhat surprising as I never really had any issues with ankles, knees or hips.

I noticed over the course of building up my mileage that my ankles and achilles would tend to be sore during and after running. I put this down to the increased mileage. However I felt myself that something was not right and expected that either the runners, the insole or the advice I got from Elverys was not right. On a long run a couple of nights ago I had to walk after 8 miles and ring my girlfriend after 9 miles to pick me up, the pain was so bad in my right ankle, achilles area.

I was at the half marathon expo on Sunday and got chatting to the Brooks sales rep. They were doing gait analysis. He got me to run a bit on the threadmille and he looked at what I run in and the insoles I got. He said that yes, I over pronate and that I needed to see a podiatrist to get fully analysed and most probably an orthotic (good, long term one made).

Has anyone any similar experiences? I'm hesitant to start paying to see people that perhaps are unlikely to be able to help me, give me bad news....also not overly keen on spending money on new trainers but I guess will have to if it means I can run pain free.

Thanks in advance.

rom

ElmMount wrote: »

Was wondering if anyone could help or advise with a recent injury.

I have a background in GAA with a strong, fit enough base. I wanted to run the Dublin Marathon in October and have been training steadily since June. I bought new trainers and insoles from Elverys following a full gait analysis. I severely overpronate when I run, but particularly on the right. This was somewhat surprising as I never really had any issues with ankles, knees or hips.

I noticed over the course of building up my mileage that my ankles and achilles would tend to be sore during and after running. I put this down to the increased mileage. However I felt myself that something was not right and expected that either the runners, the insole or the advice I got from Elverys was not right. On a long run a couple of nights ago I had to walk after 8 miles and ring my girlfriend after 9 miles to pick me up, the pain was so bad in my right ankle, achilles area.

I was at the half marathon expo on Sunday and got chatting to the Brooks sales rep. They were doing gait analysis. He got me to run a bit on the threadmille and he looked at what I run in and the insoles I got. He said that yes, I over pronate and that I needed to see a podiatrist to get fully analysed and most probably an orthotic (good, long term one made).

Has anyone any similar experiences? I'm hesitant to start paying to see people that perhaps are unlikely to be able to help me, give me bad news....also not overly keen on spending money on new trainers but I guess will have to if it means I can run pain free.

Thanks in advance.

At the end of the day all these people have a vested interest in selling you something. I had 3 podiatrists telling me I needed insoles. I didn't. Go to someone very highly recommended that will probably cost more but may save you money and pain in the long run.

ElmMount

rom wrote: »

At the end of the day all these people have a vested interest in selling you something. I had 3 podiatrists telling me I needed insoles. I didn't. Go to someone very highly recommended that will probably cost more but may save you money and pain in the long run.

Thanks for that- is there someone you could recommend?

If you wouldn't mind me asking how did you resolve your injury issue?

rom

ElmMount wrote: »

Thanks for that- is there someone you could recommend?

If you wouldn't mind me asking how did you resolve your injury issue?

Gerard Hartmann supposed to be good, Paula swears by him.

I went to a local physio who is a good marathon runner and a better physio. Not all physio are equal.

spurscormac

Had various niggling injuries over the first few years, mostly ITB. Went to physio, got some stretching advice etc.
Looked into chi running, did Catriona McKiernan's course & haven't looked back.
After doing the course I moved (slowly) towards more minimal shoes and haven't suffered problems since.

I think its a combination of changing my running form and finding the right shoes for me.

Clearlier

I follow this guy on twitter and I've picked up a few useful ideas for running technique, core strengthening and general injury avoidance. I wouldn't say that he has all the answers but I think that it's worth trying out a few of his ideas.