Is this just a pulled muscle? How long does the pain last?

[ChocChipMuffins]

About a week ago I did something* to my calf muscle - my youngest suddenly veered into the road and I lunged to stop her and felt something twang. It felt like the aftermath of a bad muscle cramp, tender and achy and a feeling like it might cramp again if you aren't careful. The pain was and is deep in my calf muscle. It was very sore for the first 24hrs and then easing off to just tender/niggly after a couple of days.

Then I was crossing a road and just elongated my stride to get to the other side quicker when I felt it go again, exactly the same, so painful. Repeat of before, very sore for a day and slowly feeling better. Every time I start to walk a little faster it feels sorer, feels 'threatening'.

Then today, I picked up my youngest with a slightly exaggerated heaving movement because she is heavy but I was stationary at the time. Same again 🥲 it's so sore and now I'm worried it will keep doing this! Any advice?

Can you self refer for physio?

I did similar - stepped at an awkward angle, felt a twang, kept being painful - and it turned out to be a torn muscle. I had quite spectacular bruising but not until a week or so later. The physio checked first to see that it wasn't Achilles tendon then I had to rest it and do exercises to strengthen the muscles so it wouldn't happen again.

Yours might be that. It might be something else. But if you go to a physio they should be able to tell you what it is and advise you on what to do. Fwiw the exercises I got worked in my case : I do a lot of hiking and haven't had problems since. I still do the exercises although not as intensively/regularly as I used to. Whatever your injury is getting specific exercises should hopefully help.

I had the same a few months ago, mine was linked to Achilles tendinitis though. The muscle tear took about six weeks to improve significantly, so I could walk without noticing it any more.

Hmm, my husband suggested it might be a torn muscle too - what a pain (pun not intended). School holidays coming up and I need to be mobile. I can luckily afford a session of two with a private physio so I will see if I can set that up asap.

Yes, do

In the meantime, ice (bag of frozen peas in a tea towel for ten minutes), rest and elevate it when you can. Appreciate this is not always possible with a toddler.

I mean, whatever type of problem it is, rest ice and elevate is a good strategy. Then you can get more specific when you see a physio. Better to get it sorted now than have it rumble on/get worse during summer.

Is it still worth icing even if the initial injury was a week ago do you know? Guess it won't hurt either way but I would have to really put some effort in to find time on weekdays so would like to know if it's worth it

It was in my case : I didn't see a physio straight away either because like you I initially thought I'd just pulled something. It was probably about a week later too - the bruising was only just starting to come out at that point. And he told me to ice it and rest with it up when I could.

I had this, calf went pop then I could barely walk and had a cramp like pain. It healed amazingly quickly, back to normal within 2 weeks I think. Pharmacist sold me a pressure sock and some deep heat, seemed to do the trick..