What to do if your calf muscles become tight while running

Some people find that their calf muscles are tight when they are running. The main reason for this is that they are running too fast or exercising too much. In addition, if the warm-up is not sufficient, it may also cause this phenomenon, which can easily lead to cramps. Therefore, you must do sufficient warm-up exercises before running, and then run to avoid strain.

Causes of tight calf muscles when running

1. Tight calf muscles are mostly caused by starting too fast, running too much, incomplete warm-up or running shoes that do not provide good support. In addition, if you do not stretch and rest after long-term or high-intensity exercise, it will also cause tension in the calf muscles. This causes the calf muscles to feel stiff.

2. Calf muscle cramps refer to the sudden, involuntary rigid contraction of muscles, which can cause muscle stiffness and unbearable pain. Common leg cramps are actually calf muscle spasms, which manifest as calf muscles such as the gastrocnemius suddenly becoming very hard and unbearably painful, which can last from a few seconds to tens of seconds. Common causes include cold stimulation, continuous and rapid muscle contraction, excessive sweating, excessive fatigue and calcium deficiency.

What to do if your calf muscles become tight while running

Treatment methods include massage, hot bath, wax therapy, infrared irradiation, etc. Massage is the best method, using the palm of your hand (overlapping your hands) and occasionally using your thumb to press from bottom to top along the direction of the muscle fibers (to promote the return of venous blood, lymph and tissue fluid). It starts with caressing and ends with shaking. Small shake: grab the ankle and shake; Large shake: flex the hip and knee, rotate the hip joint, and straighten the legs suddenly. The massage technique should be heavy.

In terms of training arrangements, those with mild symptoms can maintain the original plan and do not increase the intensity; those with more serious symptoms should reduce the intensity and amount of exercise; those with severe symptoms must stop training.

How to prevent calf muscle tightness?

Fatigue is the main cause of calf muscle tightness, and stretching after running is even more important. Fellow runners may say, I know how to stretch my calves. Aren’t they just the two common movements shown in the picture below?

That's right, these two movements are the most common forms of stretching for relaxing the posterior calf muscles, but in addition to the posterior calf, there are also a large number of muscles on the front, lateral, medial side of the calf, and sole of the foot that are involved in ankle flexion and extension and ankle stability. These muscle groups are also very prone to fatigue, but few people perform relaxation exercises on them. This results in that although it seems that runners have done calf stretching after running, in fact the calf relaxation is not comprehensive, which will lead to calf muscle tension, imbalance, and other problems in the long run, and even common calf and sole injuries such as plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, and calf stress syndrome are also related to this.