Accepted Answer

Hi XXXXXXXX. Thank you for asking your question on JustAnswer. A pulled or torn calf muscle will cause a pain at time of injury when part of the muscle of the lower leg is torn away from the Achilles tendon. This injury can persist because normal daily impact in the wrong type of shoes does not allow the muscle to fully heal and aggravates the injury. A grade one injury-involving only muscle stretching with micro tears in the tissue takes up to 14 days to heal. Grade two-when there is partial tearing of muscle fibers can take 5-8 weeks to heal. The injury can occur during any activity, especially those where you push off from the toes (running, basketball, tennis), and once an injury occurs the muscle can become tighter, while the muscles in front of the calf become weaker and the leg becomes prone to injury. Chronic overpronation of the foot can also leave the muscle open to injury and re-injury so it is important to correct this issue while healing. Treatment includes rest, ice (20 min every 4 hours), anti-inflammatories and compression. When icing the muscle do not exercise or stretch it again until it warms up because muscle becomes stiff and is easy to injure when it is cold. For compression a simple ace bandage providing gentle pressure but not impeding blood flow to foot may help the discomfort as well as protecting injured muscle. The period of rest and easy activity should progress to gently stretching and eventually strengthening. You can prevent overpronation injury with exercises that stretch the calf muscle and strengthen the leg. Correct footwear may be necessary to correct overpronation.

Expert:	Christy Hammond
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Answered:	3/4/2009

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

I have a B.S.N and more than 10 years of training and experience in patient care and education