Anyone have experience of torn calf muscle/calf sprain??

[rockinhippy]

nearly 3 weeks ago I stepped off our stairs, not even awkwardly & suddenly felt as if I'f been whacked in my calf with a hammer - agony - waited the weekend out to see if it improved at (have other health problems so used to weirdness with my body but by Monday it had eased a bit, but was still painful & needed to use a stick/support shopping trolley

GP said "ruptured achilles tendon" rest, strap with tubi grip, anti inflamitary s, ice pack etc etc & it would take a couple of weeks to start to heal

took her advice & by a week & a half it was improving a lot, though still needed walking support outside, i was okay indoors & could put foot flat on the ground again, doing so well I put in a note to her asking for exersize sheet.

& then BAM - mini emergency at home, had me forget to be careful & I sprang off on it - BAM - it went again, only this time worse - worse still I had all of DDs friends just turned up for an Easter picnic, promised as I had been so rubbish at getting out & about over the holiday due to first injury - not sure how I managed, but I half hopped to the park with the support of my trolley filled with picnic, as I couldn't let her down & more hassel to try & round up 5 lots of parents to collect their kids

So in short I did myself no favours, but figured I'd be ok if I took it easy & DH came & helped as soon as he'd finished work -

next day was bank holiday, still no improvement at all, if anything worse as nerve pain too - so went up to A&E - they diagnose torn calf muscle where it joins the achilles, saying my GP wasn't wrong as its at the muscle junction, & the achilles it strained, but muscle has a partial tear - also known as calf sprain grade 2 - been getting around - just barely - on crutches since then :( though hospital did say not to rely on them too much & try & weight bare on the bad leg

That was almost a week ago & where as first time round, by now I could put my foot flat on the floor with little pain & walk just about normally short distances indoors & with a stick outdoors - I still CANT

this time round - trying to put my foot flat has nerve pain up my leg & pins & needles, numbness & pain in the sole of my foot, right now feels like tooth ache in the side of my leg, as I was trying to stretch my toes/flex foot earlier - feels as if there's a nerve involved

I'm not sure whether this should be expected at this stage, especially as I over did it first time round & damaged it again & I should be patient, or whether this is really something to worry about & I should be going back to GP

would anyone have a clue??

Thank you :)

Don't really have a clue but a friend of mine has done something which sounds very similar and a&e have plastercasted him right up to his hip. Definetly a torn calf muscle (though obviously a bad one) and not a break.

Yep. Tried running across a road while wearing flip-flops. First step, felt the calf muscle rip. Horrendously painful, could hardly walk for a week or so. I'm careful wearing flip-flops now as it has nearly happened again since then. Apparently it's something that can happen if you start wearing flip-flops if your calf muscles aren't used to it.
Rest is really the only way for it to heal.
But if it's that bad after a week, I'd go back to your GP.

From what you say, if your calf is not improving at all, I would be worried about a partially ruptured achilles tendon. I would either go to your GP or back to A&E. Achilles tendon injuries should be plastered and referred to orthopaedics/fracture clinic. I would see if you can persuade them to do an ultrasound of your achilles, which would give you a definitive answer as to whether you have damaged it or not. Did they x-ray your ankle while you were in A&E? If they suspect an Achilles tendon injury they should also xray to rule out an avulsion fracture.
Having said all that, if you have badly toen your calf muscle it may take a little longer to recover, but no harm in seeking a further opinion.
HTH

Thank You all :)

I've just got back from seeing the GP again & she's organising a referral to a physio assessment clinic & is going to push for it to be a soon as possible due to my struggling on crutches with it causing havoc with other muscles - neck shoulders etc in agony (due to FM)

she seemed a bit stumped herself, but agrees it seems very like theres nerve involvement too - so doesn't want to give me any further advice, bar rest it :(

she did offer to book me in with a practice GP who can give me steroid injections, but I declined as I'm prone to side effects & don't really want to go that route unless they are 100% sure thats whats needed - which she agreed she can't be

& no midnight they didn't Xray or Scan my ankle, but the achilles tendon is definitely still intact - its the muscle up from there that they think is torn - glutonus something or other & its the middle of the back of my calf where the main pain is, but trying to put my foot flat on the floor causes pins & needles in the sole of my foot - as if circulation somehow being cut off - toothache pain kicks in up the outer side of my calf after that.

I have strong pain killers & bar school run can rest it up, though its driving me nuts with boredom as I'd hoped it would be well on the mend by now & loads I wanted to do :( -

oh well - it could be worse - thankful for small mercies & all that & at least I can relieve the boredom on here :)