Calf Muscle Twanged & now in pain & cannot walk well??

[rockinhippy]

This happened without any accident at all - so I don't even have a good story to tell - I stepped off our last stair on my way out of the house for the School run on Fri - didn't step badly, foot hit the floor quite naturally & then TWANG it felt as if something in my calf had just snapped & hurt like hell

I couldn't face A&E over the weekend & decided as no accident it can't be anything too serious & will probably subside over a few days - it doesn't really seem to be though :( - I'm walking better, but think thats because I'm now used to walking to avoid setting the pain off - if I do forget & walk normally I am in so much pain it makes me feel faint _ & I'm not soft when it comes to dealing with pain.

I did have a friend turn up on my just after it had happened & he is convinced I've sprained my calf - something he's done himself - but whilst jumping around playing tennis, so I'm not sure - he did give me advice on ice, rest etc, which I have followed but only a little improvement :( - he scared the hell out of me by telling me his took months to heal -

not sure if its relevant, but I do have problems with my calf muscles feeling tight & swollen - I always used to have calves too small for boots & now can't fit into boots - despite the rest of me not being overweight- I've never been able to get my GP to take this seriously though, so no idea if its anything that could me to injure more easily

Anyone have any ideas on this please ???,

I'm hoping for something less scary than my friends diagnosis - I couldn't get GP appointment for today & again can't face sitting around for hours at A&E - so it will be tomorrow at the earliest - & hoping I'm not doing myself more harm by trying to do calf stretches etc

Another person had something similar a while back if this helps
You sound in real pain, don't worry! If it's the same thing I had it does get better but you must rest and use ice and nurofen. I wouldn't try to stretch or anything until it's better. Maybe the GP will give better advice though. Good luck with it, I hope it's better soon.

Thank You theglove :) you were pretty much spot on - OMG just how easy is it to damage ourselves at times

the GP has diagnosed it as achilles tendonitis, due to the way I've stepped rupturing, but thankfully not tearing my Achilles tendon - she's a new GP to the Surgery & checked it really thoroughly, really seemed to know her stuff too, so very reassuring -

she has said to treat it exactly as you say, rest, ice etc, but to go back if no improvement as that would indicate a tear, which might need surgery - but from feeling she was pretty sure it wasn't torn - she did say that it was VERY important that I followed the rest advice, or it could end up taking months to heal - thankfully it is easing somewhat now :) as yes you are right - painful -

in a way its turned out to be a bit of luck, the new GP is very thorough & not put off by my FM/M.E diagnosis, which often is the case- she has also diagnosed another problem I have with my feet - as plantar fascilis(sp) which she reckons is the likely cause of my over tight calf muscles - & therefore the achilles problem - I hadn't even realised I had a problem with my feet, just thought it was FM related, so its good to know it can be treat :)

I''m also just glad no School run this week, & DH has a week off too, which has meant he can deal with DD & I can rest it, though its put the mockers on our plans for the weeks days out