Workouts

Soleus Muscle

By Emily

The last time I had a serious athletic injury was my seventh grade volleyball season. Since dislocating my knee at 12, I've been relatively (and thankfully) strain-free. There are sometimes sore arms after a long yoga class and the expected bum burn after bike rides, but on the whole I've been happily able to go about my workouts with time being my only limitation.

Until two weeks ago.

I ran with a friend on vacation and didn't stretch enough. When I got back, I didn't think anything of it and jumped back on my bike. The next day I literally fell getting out of bed--my calf muscle felt like it had a massive charley horse that only got worse as the day went on. Stairs felt unbearable. I thought I could make up for my missed stretching with some long sessions--big mistake. The pain only worsened over the next two days as my lower right leg swelled.

Emily with her friends

I kept trying to push through bike rides and yoga as my calf and ankle ballooned. I went to see a massage therapist who said she thought I'd strained my soleus muscle. The site sportsinjuryclinic.net describes this type of strain as "a sudden pain at the back of the leg, difficulty in contracting the muscle or standing on tip toe, and pain and swelling or bruising in the calf muscle." I didn't even know I had soleus muscles, let alone a strained one. The therapist said I should be fine in two to three days, I went on my way, and continued my routine. I'm training for a five-day bike ride in September and couldn't lose the time, I figured. Plus going to the gym before work helps clear my head and gives me more energy, something I didn't want to give up.

What I didn't realize is that my unwillingness to stop training was actually doing me more potential harm than good. After three days came and went and I could barely squeeze into a pair of boots, I made an appointment with a doctor who scolded me for not giving my leg time off. I had strained my achilles tendon, he said, and was in danger or tearing both it and my calf muscle. When he saw that I had ridden my bike to the appointment, he told me I had to follow "RICE":Rest/Ice/Compression/Elevation. Ice and elevation I could do, but take two weeks off as he advised? I was going to go out of my mind.  

When I finally accepted his orders (he was an MD specializing in sports injuries, after all), I realized there were a lot of things I was missing with my cardio-driven workouts. I started lifting weights and doing arm exercises 3-4 times a week and am beginning to notice a difference. I also realized that's there a place for long walks for the sake of fresh air and head clearing, something I probably wouldn't have thought was worth my physical activity time before.

The most important lesson? I should have seen a doctor as soon as I experienced pain that didn't go away in a day or two. I risked really doing damage because I was stubborn enough to think I didn't need help or a recommendation for something I thought I could help myself get over. That said, I'm looking forward to getting back to training soon--I miss the endorphins and the way I feel after a tough set of leg curls. I know that it's a sensation I can only get when I'm well, however, and not creating my own "get better quick" plan.