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Lower calf pain, physical therapy not helping?

Hi, stupidly, in mid August, I went on this really, really steep hike. Going up was fine. Going down, my left calf started to cramp and hurt. Didn’t stretch. Got home and stretched it, iced it, etc. Hurt quite badly the next 3 days, went to see doc. Doc says trigger points, refers self to PT. I have 17 visits with PT from late Aug to present, during which she ultrasounds, massages, and gives stretching and strenghtening. Pain gets better, still can’t walk more than a mile, and some days it just hurts all the time. PT said likely what happens is that when I started coming down the mountain my calf muscles tightened up and now can’t get untightened due to poor blood supply.

Pain is from about 3 in above heel, to top, veering outwards as it goes up.

Any ideas.

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    Sounds fun, when you ice it, ice for at least 15 agonizing minutes until it is completely numb. At that point, stretch the calf just a little, you want to be bringing your toes up, so you can put them up against a wall and lean towards the wall with the other foot just a little behind. Keep your leg straight and then bend it so that you focus on the lower muscle.

    Try ice heat. It doesn’t matter which you start with, but you have to end with ice. Three minutes each for about 12 minutes or so. Put a bag of ice on then a hot wet towel make sure it’s hot but not so hot you can’t hold it in your hands. [quote]
    Then when you finish the 12 minutes with the bag of ice, stretch while your numb and don’t feel any pain, once the pain starts a;coming back re-ice, and stretch again.

    On 2002-11-03 20:55, Gargantua wrote:
    Hi, stupidly, in mid August, I went on this really, really steep hike. Going up was fine. Going down, my left calf started to cramp and hurt. Didn’t stretch. Got home and stretched it, iced it, etc. Hurt quite badly the next 3 days, went to see doc. Doc says trigger points, refers self to PT. I have 17 visits with PT from late Aug to present, during which she ultrasounds, massages, and gives stretching and strenghtening. Pain gets better, still can’t walk more than a mile, and some days it just hurts all the time. PT said likely what happens is that when I started coming down the mountain my calf muscles tightened up and now can’t get untightened due to poor blood supply.

    Pain is from about 3 in above heel, to top, veering outwards as it goes up.

    Any ideas.
    [/quote]

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