10 points best answer!!! how to i stop my calves from hurting?

Question

I know that after I excercise on the treadmill at the gym I get these really bad shooting pains in my calves. What can I do to prevent that or make it better when it does happen. I know that excercising is obviously going to cause pain, but my god it hurts .. what do i do?

Answer 1

Walking strengthens the calf muscles but what are you doing to strengthen the opposing muscle? The Tibialis? You might consider asking the trainer on duty about strengthening the shin muscles with tibialis work. Muscles that are out of balance are the ones that give us pains.

Aside from that, how's your warmup? Do you warmup? You should! And how's your cool down? You stretch after working out, right?

Stretching every day even if you didn't work out will help with calf muscle pain as well.

And how's your diet? Try eating some oranges or bananas. Calcium and potassium are essential for proper muscle function. If you're deficient on either of these, you could get muscle cramps. I hate those pesky late night calf cramps that come in the middle of the night, but with stretching, proper diet, warming up and cooling down and stretching, I don't get those pains anymore.

Answer 2

It sounds like you are experiencing DOMS - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness caused by exercising at a more intense level than your condition level. The old phrase, "no pain, no gain" is a myth. You can exercise without soreness. There is a program called Isolated Body Conditioning that alleviates DOMS. You exercise the muscles while they are warm, but you have to keep them warm throughout the exercise. Run on the treadmill long enough to elevate your heartrate. Stop to stretch for a short period. You will find you are more flexible when your muscles are warm. Run a little more. The treadmill itself can often cause sore calves, so don't stay on it for long periods of time. Stretch often. You can also add weight training to your program. Run, lift, stretch, and repeat. You shouldn't notice the soreness at all with this method.

Answer 3

Stretch, stretch, stretch.

I have never had the problem that you speak of, but I do get shin splints on occasion. The cure for shin splints is to rest and ease back into the exercise that causes the pain until you built the strength up.

If your muscles are burning from the treadmill, then stretching them should do the trick. If you are getting cramping, I would suggest eating more potassium and drinking lots of water. A good rule of thumb for water is to take your body weight in lbs. and divide that number in half and drink that many ounces of water. You will need to drink more if you are sweating alot at the gym.

Example: 200lbs / 2 = 100 oz. per day

I would also start weight training exercises that focus on your calf muscles too.

Answer 4

Several things will help. A hot bath will help distribute the lactic acid build-up in the muscles...Lactic acid is produced when the muscles are deprived of oxygen and causes cramping. The second suggestion is to increase your calcium intake. People that are calcium deficient develop a condition called tetany (Not tetanus) and calcium pills will relieve it, some people develop idiopathic leg pain (the cause is unknown or not clear) and drinking tonic water will help this problem as it contains quinine...or you could see your physician for a prescription of quinine....the tonic water is cheaper and more pleasant than the very bitter quinine tablets.

Answer 5

You may be experiencing something called claudication, which is usually a severe, crampy pain in the calves during exercise that goes away with rest and is generally caused by poor circulation.
If this sounds like a good description of your pain, see your doctor, PVD can be serious, but it can also be treated (not with as much success as we might like yet, but there are things available) that may help.

Answer 6

Firstly, you need to warm up before you run on the treadmill. Start with a slow walk first then slowly progress to jog. Stretching before and after each workout is a must as it will ease the pain.

Answer 7

banana's and water.

it sounds like lactic acid is built up in your calf muscles and the potassium from bananas will help by not allowing the lactic acid to store up in your muscles. Water also helps this.. for every half hour of workout, you should try to drink a water bottle.

Now, what i have heard for calf cramps at night, and it's hard for me to believe, but i have some natives in my life that SWEAR by this.. it is to put a bar of ordinary soap (i think they use irish spring or zest) under the fitted sheet where your legs rest at night. dont put your legs on TOP of it, it just needs to be near that area. *shrug* They say it WORKS almost all the time and their leg spasms are very occasional now. *smile*

Answer 8

stretch before you start and dont over exercise your muscles may hurt due to a build up of lactic acid. its great to have goals just be careful and dont over do it. And definately take the time beforehand to warm up properly. Hope this helps:)

Answer 9

I have this problem. I have to stretch my calf muscles daily. Place your foot(shoes on) on a door sill with your heal on the floor and your upper foot on the frame as high as you can get it. This is a good stretch. You can also use steps and place your the front of your foot on a step and press your heels downwards.

Answer 10

You most likely have shin splints . I play basketball so i know how painfull it can be. The best thing to do is ice them after every practice or whenever u play . And if u have a trainer talk to him/her about it . They will most likely wrap ur shin to keep your shin splints from getting any worse. Hope I helped