Calf Pain When Running: Why It Happens and How to Fix It

Calf pain when running is a common experience for runners who are not yet prepared to carry body weight load on the forefoot. The calf muscles must accept and stabilize body weight during support on the ground, and when the body is not yet adapted to this loading the muscles can become sore. Understanding how this loading occurs and how the body interacts with gravity during running helps explain both the discomfort and how to reduce it.

Is it possible to avoid this calf pain? Yes. Many runners do so by following a proper route of preparation instead of simply diving into it. Others skip this stage entirely because they are already prepared. For example, if jumping rope is a normal part of your routine, chances are you will not experience calf soreness when running.

How Calf Soreness Develops

Calf soreness is often an early sign of DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), which typically appears 12 to 48 hours after exercise and is characterized by tenderness and stiffness of the muscles. The discomfort is caused by micro-tears in muscle tissue for a simple reason – resisting gravity.

The mechanics behind this are straightforward. During landing on support, the body moves forward and downward toward the ground. The final muscle groups responsible for accepting body weight are the lower leg and foot muscles, with the calf muscles being the strongest among them.

Biomechanics of Movement

The main biomechanical goal of the body movement over the support is to provide redirection from the downward-forward flow to upward-forward one without losing momentum and horizontal velocity and even try to gain a little there.

So, in the Pose Method this is achieved by landing the foot close to the point of projection of the General Center of Mass (GCM) on the ground, and proceeding with falling forward with minimum or no braking, i.e. maintain the Pose position while falling forward and quickly change support.

The downward movement of body weight is supposed to be finished before the beginning of falling forward. But very often calves resist this downward movement by getting tense, which is caused by our desire to hold the heel in a certain position and prevent the foot from touching the ground. Why is this happening? The reasons could be different: wrong understanding and overdoing of the command to keep the body weight on balls of the feet, another one could be attempting the push off. It could be done on the conscious or subconscious level, but the result is always the same – overloading the calf muscles.

Biomechanical basis of it consists of counteraction of two forces, gravity and muscles activity, resisting the body weight, working simultaneously in the opposite directions. Who wins and who loses is not difficult to guess. The muscles suffer the consequences.

The downward movement of body weight is finished when the body’s general center of mass is passing over the ball of the foot on support. The logical consequence of it is the following: the faster the body passes through the vertical line over the ball of the foot, the faster the calf muscles are released from the body weight load. If during the downward movement of the body the calf muscles are not active by holding or pushing the body weight, then they receive less loading.

 

 

1) How to Avoid Calf Pain When Running

1. Don’t put too much effort into staying on the ball of the foot.
2. Don’t hold the heel above the ground, let it touch the ground and allow your ankle to move freely. The point is to keep your body weight on your forefoot.
3. Don’t do any active propulsion or push off with the leg and the foot. Keep your perception of the foot as being not loaded, but on the opposite, as getting unloaded, when you start running.
4. Do concentrate only on the pulling action of the foot from the ground.

 

2) How to Prevent It

1. Jump rope (lift feet, don’t push) on regular basis as part of starting your Pose Method of Running training routines. Do it barefoot and in shoes to get different perception of foot touching down. Stay relaxed. Start with the minimal number of jumps to give yourself time to get used to it and gradually increase the number of reps.
2. Do the prescribed running drills and strength exercises. If you want to follow a program – try our Strength Training for Runners, the Beginner’s Guide to Pose Running or Agility Training Program where we provide a structured approach & detailed instructions.

 

3) How to Fix It If You Got It

As the saying goes – this too shall pass. The temporary discomfort will go away on its own, eventually (give it about 2 weeks). It will do so faster if you help it, of course.

1. Use the above recommendations on preventing and avoiding
2. Do a warm/hot lower leg or full body bath with sea or Epsom salt
3. Don’t ice
4. Massage

 

Note: Light runs uphill or up the stairs are better and more effective than what’s called ‘calf raises’, a somewhat forceful exercises that can do damage to your calf muscle.

Keep in mind the difference between discomfort and pain. This applies to every situation where we deal with pain. You have to be honest with yourself to properly assess your condition.

a) Temporary discomfort is not the same as pain

Discomfort is experienced when we do something new, our muscles are not used to that type of loading, it feels a bit straining but bearable.

Pain is a much higher degree of discomfort and it’s a different ball game. The cringe, the grimace, the limp, etc should be your indicators. Pain is a signal that you crossed the line, you’ve done wrong (simply stated).

b) Discomfort goes away on its own, pain doesn’t.

While discomfort will disappear on it’s own typically within the two weeks window or less, the pain will either stay or keep rearing its ugly head. Pain needs to be addressed appropriately and in timely manner. Your technique, your movement needs to be reevaluated and corrected.

 

Bare Feet to the Rescue

It is very useful to do short runs barefoot to learn the proper neuromuscular coordination and to feel relaxation and looseness of the support foot and ankle. Jumps with the rope on one or both legs reproducing the Pose stance are good as well. These exercises teach you to synchronize the body weight moving down with relaxation of your calves. Start from these exercises and move on to faster and longer running without calf soreness.

 

RESEARCH

• Diebal-Lee AR, Kuenzi RS, Rábago CA. Return to running following a knee disarticulation amputation: a case report. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2017 Aug;12(4):655-669. PMCID: PMC5534156
• Pieter H. Helmhout, PhD, MSc, Angela R. Diebal, PT, DSc, Lisanne van der Kaaden, MSc, Chris C. Harts, MSc, Anthony Beutler, MD, and Wes O. Zimmermann, MD. Orthop J Sports Med. 2015 Mar; 3(3): 2325967115575691. The Effectiveness of a 6-Week Intervention Program Aimed at Modifying Running Style in Patients With Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome. DOI: 10.1177/2325967115575691
• A. Pyanzin, N. Romanov, V. Vasilyev, G. Fletcher. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation. – Vol. 19. – Iss. 9. – 06 Sep 2012. Specifics in running kinematics developed by Pose Method in disabled sprinters with cerebral palsy. DOI: 10.12968/ijtr.2012.19.9.521
• Gravity’s role in accelerated running – a comparison of an experienced Pose® and heel-toe runner. International Society Of Sports Biomechanics, XXV11, 374-377, 2009

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