Calf Muscle Pain

[stilettopete]

Just curious is this a common complaint. I've recently started getting bad calf muscle pain in my right leg. It is worse when I wear flats and virtually non-existent in heels. In fact wearing heels brings instant relief. Which of course I like very much:smile: The pain does fluctuate. And can be quite acute as I start to walk in flats. Sometimes strong analgesia is required to get thru a shift at work. Any comments/advice be much appreciated. Thanx

[hoverfly]

You have shorten you Achilles tendons from excessive heel wearing. Wearing heels causes your lower calf mussel to contract and the tendon will shorten to accommodate. The helps with wearing very high heels but, you can seriously hurt your self if you are not carefull. If you pull the tendon while in flats, it could be a long time to be able to wear heels again. Either rotate heel heights down to three inch, or roll a ball with your foot while sitting in a chair and stretch your leg out while rolling the ball, heel to toe and back. If you do a search there are a few more threads on this.

[Mike Hinch]

This one really sounds to my like it could be that from wearing high heels too much of the time the muscles in back have allowed them self to become shortened. Now as we already know any advice from here is not to be as from your doctor but even so that does not give me enough information to diagnose. Anyway one possible and likely cause of this pain is from going high heel too much of the time well too much is just my opinion and that did happen to me one time when I was out of town for a while and went HH all day too many days and I had to get those back muscles stretched back again and this I did to stay flexible. The other problem that I get is painful contractions where one or more of the muscles will just go full on. Now with me these other muscle pain is related to HH use but differently and in that case I do well by switching over to flats or even Earth shoes for a while. So if in your case it is a matter of stretching then I advise to follow the standard stretching exercises and keep your range of motion. Then one other pain that I get is in the ankle joint at the front or back depending like when I got my first earth shoes it was at the front of the joint and every time I go to a higher heel I get some at the back. But that goes away with practice, for me anyway.

[stilettopete]

You have shorten you Achilles tendons from excessive heel wearing. Wearing heels causes your lower calf mussel to contract and the tendon will shorten to accommodate. The helps with wearing very high heels but, you can seriously hurt your self if you are not carefull. If you pull the tendon while in flats, it could be a long time to be able to wear heels again. Either rotate heel heights down to three inch, or roll a ball with your foot while sitting in a chair and stretch your leg out while rolling the ball, heel to toe and back. If you do a search there are a few more threads on this.

Thanks for that. I've stopped wearing 5" and 5.5" heels now. Just 2 , 3 and 4".

I'll try that stretch exercise too.

Thanks again.

[hoverfly]

Thanks for that. I've stopped wearing 5" and 5.5" heels now. Just 2 , 3 and 4".

I'll try that stretch exercise too.

Thanks again.

You don't have to stop wearing the sky scrapers, just don't wear 5" heels every day or even all day long, just part of a day and swith to something lower. You could halve issuse wearing just 4" heels all the time!

[stilettopete]

You don't have to stop wearing the sky scrapers, just don't wear 5" heels every day or even all day long, just part of a day and swith to something lower. You could halve issuse wearing just 4" heels all the time!

Okay. But am gonna keep the 5" plus heels on the back burner for now. A couple of weeks anyway.

I suspect I've compounded the issue by recently starting training. Runs ,sprints and lots of walking etc in trainers.

Cheers

[Walkonit]

Okay. But am gonna keep the 5" plus heels on the back burner for now. A couple of weeks anyway.

I suspect I've compounded the issue by recently starting training. Runs ,sprints and lots of walking etc in trainers.

Cheers

I agree that training an already shortened muscle can overload it and cause pain and injury. You need to rest it a few days, keep stretching then re-introduce the training and heel wearing in small doses.

Maybe the old adage of "everything in small doses" applies here.

The other cause of your pain may be sciatica in the calf from a pinched nerve in the lower back. sounds less likely from your description, but you shouldn't rule it out.

[Walkonit]

Now as we already know any advice from here is not to be as from your doctor but even so that does not give me enough information to diagnose.

I agree that doctor's advice is best, but remember that some of the advice here could be very sound especially as some members of this forum may actually be doctors.

[Mike Hinch]

Right and I hope that works well like it did for me. Just now I can wear flats all day and also a few heels that nearly try to get me to fall on my face. Now those extra high I do not wear very often but I will need to practice. The first day that I wore them was at the mall and wore them till that evening. Now without loosing anything I need to stretch a little more because I still plan to finish making my ballet heels.

[roniheels]

I have the similar symptoms with my right calf and hamstring as stilettopete. I find that it bothers me after I have been on my feet, whether in heels or sports shoes, all day or for prolonged periods of time. Of course being 58 years old might have a little to do with it. For me, I do many stretching exercises, use an analgesic balm, and if too much discomfort, one ibuprofen.

[Sly Fox]

I agree with the opinion that you've started to shorten your Achilles tendon. If it were something like sciatica you'd get a searing pain going down the back of your leg, and wearing high heels wouldn't improve it at all. For a multitude of reasons, beautiful though they may be, you shouldn't wear high heels all the time, be it down to what it does to the muscles of your legs, the bones in your feet and your overall posture. Although they make you look elegant they can throw your centre of gravity out enough to give you back problems. When you get home at night you really ought to take 'em off and give your feet, and the rest of you a break. I know I sound like a terrible killjoy, and I apologise. I do wear them, and they give me so much more confidence than flat shoes, but even I recognise that they need to come off at the end of the day ; )

[Mike Hinch]

As for coming off at the day that is one thing but I can find some really nice well fitting narrow shoes from the women's department that do not have high heels so just personally I keep my muscles in condition with wearing flats at least two days in a row each week. Also there was another posting about getting enough Potassium in the diet.

[stilettopete]

Things are slightly worse than I anticipated. Regular discomfort and pain but without any pattern or warning. It's definitely an achilles tendon problem and repeated heeling will make it worse. Flexion and extension of my right foot can be a real problem. As of now I think I need a 2 or 3 week break from heels. To enable a fuller recovery and then a gradual return with low heels. I will keep you posted about my progress.

[Walkonit]

Walking in heels not only shortens the achilles (and probably wouldn't cause the amount of acute pain you are describing), but can also inflame the achilles because it is bent more severley than usual at the top of the heel cup and repeately irritated while walking. I've had this problem myself after walking in heels longer than I'd ever done before. It was very painful, but I recovered quickly. I'd say rest and no heels for a week or 2 will cure it.

[Mike Hinch]

Right keep us posted on the developments of the situation. As for me after going through this sort of thing once I plan to keep stretched.