Glen AtwellSports Injury: Calf Strain and Tear
May 19th 2008 01:40
Tearing or straining a calf is synonymous with running and sprinting. Calf injuries can happen to marathon runners during a race, or city walkers ascending a flight of stairs.
The ‘calf muscle’ refers to a group of three muscles attached to the back of your shin. Cyclists often accumulate impressive mounds of muscle in this region.
A strain or tear of the calf usually results in immediate tenderness, making it difficult to walk and exert any stress on the muscle, such as climbing a ladder or taking off quickly to run after a bus.
Even walking up gentle inclines can be tough when carrying a calf injury. Anything that involves rising up on your toes will be painful.
AFL footballers, rugby league players and soccer stars are prone to calf injuries, but it is tennis players and cricket players that are most susceptible.
Tennis and cricket involves explosive changes of directions, batsmen taking off for a quick single, or a tennis player suddenly shifting their body weight from one side to the other.
This sudden action, initially, puts huge amounts of strain on the calf, which then transfer up through the quadriceps and hamstrings.
The calf is responsible for the acceleration in fast movements and therefore is most likely to be strained or torn in push-off or take-off motions.
Think of a 100-metre sprinter, during the race, a hamstring is mostly likely to blow out, but launching off the starting blocks puts the calf muscles under the microscope.
Treatment of a hamstring injury requires RICE:
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation
Anti-inflammatory drugs may also be useful.
A minor calf injury will usually sideline an athlete for around 2-3 weeks, though most will be able to return to gentle jogging within a week or two.
The exact moment Australian cricketer Steve Waugh tore his calf muscle. Sudden acceleration and push-off puts a lot of strain on the calf muscle
A strain or tear of the calf usually results in immediate tenderness, making it difficult to walk and exert any stress on the muscle, such as climbing a ladder or taking off quickly to run after a bus.
Even walking up gentle inclines can be tough when carrying a calf injury. Anything that involves rising up on your toes will be painful.
AFL footballers, rugby league players and soccer stars are prone to calf injuries, but it is tennis players and cricket players that are most susceptible.
Tennis and cricket involves explosive changes of directions, batsmen taking off for a quick single, or a tennis player suddenly shifting their body weight from one side to the other.
This sudden action, initially, puts huge amounts of strain on the calf, which then transfer up through the quadriceps and hamstrings.
The calf is responsible for the acceleration in fast movements and therefore is most likely to be strained or torn in push-off or take-off motions.
Think of a 100-metre sprinter, during the race, a hamstring is mostly likely to blow out, but launching off the starting blocks puts the calf muscles under the microscope.
Treatment of a hamstring injury requires RICE:
Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation
Anti-inflammatory drugs may also be useful.
A minor calf injury will usually sideline an athlete for around 2-3 weeks, though most will be able to return to gentle jogging within a week or two.
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