I'll never rip on another injured pro athlete

[IcemanSK]

My whole life I've been puzzled over a pro athlete who is out for 6 weeks or longer for a pulled hamstring or calf muscle. I've had them many times & maybe taken a week or 2 off.

Well folks, I get it now. At the end of March I pulled my calf muscle while running. No biggie, I've done it before. This time, it didn't heal in two weeks. I can't do more than 3 jumping jacks without pain that makes me stop! I went to 2 doctors at the month mark. Both said, "Just take Motrin." I asked them if they really thought it was smart for me to take 3 doses of Mortin every day for a month or longer. Instead of answering, they both just said I need to be more patient. I told the one doctor I need physical therapy. I've been doing PT for a month & it STILL hurts. The therapist this morning said the muscle is still like a rock in there. I see the doctor tomorrow & I should get more PT.

Maybe I'm just gettin' old (who said that?!) but it's gonna take more time. Like I said, I'll never rip on an athlete who is hurt again.

 

[Fiendlover]

My whole life I've been puzzled over a pro athlete who is out for 6 weeks or longer for a pulled hamstring or calf muscle. I've had them many times & maybe taken a week or 2 off.

Well folks, I get it now. At the end of March I pulled my calf muscle while running. No biggie, I've done it before. This time, it didn't heal in two weeks. I can't do more than 3 jumping jacks without pain that makes me stop! I went to 2 doctors at the month mark. Both said, "Just take Motrin." I asked them if they really thought it was smart for me to take 3 doses of Mortin every day for a month or longer. Instead of answering, they both just said I need to be more patient. I told the one doctor I need physical therapy. I've been doing PT for a month & it STILL hurts. The therapist this morning said the muscle is still like a rock in there. I see the doctor tomorrow & I should get more PT.

Maybe I'm just gettin' old (who said that?!) but it's gonna take more time. Like I said, I'll never rip on an athlete who is hurt again.

yeah i usually rip on injured pro athletes too especialy when i watch the MLB like the dodger's and i'll be like "he's still injured." Because like you I've pulled things too and have always gotten back in the fight. But sometimes you just got to understand that what they're feeling could be completely different from what you've felt.

Hope you get better.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Your perception on this changes pretty quickly once you have suffered an injury that just doesn't heal quickly. I tore a shoulder muscle throwing the javelin and it took months to come good. This was when I was 18. Even now I can't throw as well as I could (there are some other javelin throwing related issues there as well).

What I find really surprising though is the number of athletes who come back too soon. There bodies are the tools with which they make a living and they are willing to risk permanent or long term injury? If an athlete comes back from a torn muscle is less than 6 weeks I count the days until he goes down with a more serious injury.

 

[morph4me]

I learned a while ago that if you rush back after an injury, you'll be out even longer. When you get older, you don't heal as quickly as you once did, it jut takes your mind a little longer than your body to accept that. Take it easy and allow yourself to heal.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I think you need rest more than anything else. PT may be aggravating it at this point. However, I am not a doctor.

 

[Kembudo-Kai Kempoka]

Find someone near you who does deep tissue work (myofascial release technique, Rolfing, or something similar), make an appointment, get absolutely blind stinking drunk, and have someone else drive you to the appointment.

It will hurt (calves suck to have kneaded, especially when they are tightened in a ball from a strain). You might even want to shoot the person working on you. But when they are done, your problem will be gone.

The calf muscles are among the strongest in the body. Absent a specific tearing injury (and even in the face of one), strain during training is often a result of abnormal movement or cellular mechanics (i.e., poor pre-nuitrition or prehydration leads to an overwork strain of the muscle itself, even though you may not have been winded yet).

The calf muscles are beasts, and it takes a lot to really injure one; to tear the pennate fibers or strip the muscle from the bone. Unfortunately, when you strain one, they are slow to forgive the insult (there is a difference between an insult and injury, just as there is a difference between "hurt" and "harm"). Iron out the kinks, and I'd bet dollars to doughnuts you'll be fine.

And yes...that much ibuprofen is bad for you. They don't wanna tell you, because it's among the only things they have to throw at it. But it causes irreversible damage to filtratyion organs in the body. Over the counter pain remedies are responsible for approx 10,000 deaths per year. Granted, these aren't among healthy individuals who are taking them on a short course...the typical fatality profile looks like: Person on a buncha meds, has been for a long time, is taking way more than they should of all their meds, and has been doing so for awhile. Still, I figger, why tempt fate?

D.

 

[KELLYG]

I feel for you. I had a similar problem with my calf. I tore the muscle appx 1 1/2 mo before bb testing. I went thru pt. Like the previous poster, deep tissue massage. It hurts almost worse than the actual injury. Well we got it appx 85% healed before bb testing. About 4 1/2 hrs into a 5hr test I tore it again. I manage to hobble thru the rest of the test. I then took some time off, kept up with pt even deep massaged myself at home. I alternated between heat and ice stretching and of course ibuprofen and eventually it cleared up but it took some time. Some times the hardest thing to do is not to train and push yourself.

Good luck

 

[Kacey]

I feel for you. I had a similar problem with my calf. I tore the muscle appx 1 1/2 mo before bb testing. I went thru pt. Like the previous poster, deep tissue massage. It hurts almost worse than the actual injury. Well we got it appx 85% healed before bb testing. About 4 1/2 hrs into a 5hr test I tore it again. I manage to hobble thru the rest of the test. I then took some time off, kept up with pt even deep massaged myself at home. I alternated between heat and ice stretching and of course ibuprofen and eventually it cleared up but it took some time. Some times the hardest thing to do is not to train and push yourself.

Good luck

The bolded portion is a part well worth repeating.

 

[arnisador]

I've got PT 3x/week for 6 weeks, and this is week 1. I hear you, dude!

 

[IcemanSK]

I think you need rest more than anything else. PT may be aggravating it at this point. However, I am not a doctor.

I'm not hardly training at all. I haven't run in more than 2 months. I don't even do jumping jacks with my class. I've gained 10 lbs! I stand around & tell them what to do.

I still stretch & do push-ups & ab work, but that's it! I don't think I could get more sedentary:boing1: