Mild calf strain - how long does it really take to recover?

Could take 4-6 weeks off to resolve. I hope it heals fast.

Agree w/ Mattix. Could take as much as 4-6 weeks. If it's still tender to touch or press on, then definitely don't try running on it. At the very least, you'll need to wait until that pain is gone, and then maybe another couple weeks after that. The problem, at least for me, is how easy it is to re-injure yourself if you try to come back too soon.

I wish I knew how old you are.

I can say calf muscles are the bane of older athletes. By their structure its eventually going to break down. If you are a youngster I'd say to take as much recovery as you can. Once they start they are baskets to get over.

I had one this past cross season. I took 2 weeks off running, which was too short. I had pain once I came back but told myself I couldn't miss another 3 weeks. So I did a month and a half of just the workouts (3 days a week running, the rest in the pool). When I would run fast it the adrenaline kind of dulled it away, so I didn't mind that. I think it had mostly healed up, which is why I didn't get more injured, but I never let it completely heal and get the scar tissue all worked out. I was seeing PT during this whole time which helped manage it with stretching and graston. By the end of cross season it was pretty much gone away, but I wasn't going to risk bumping mileage. Then I took 2 more weeks after cross and have been good so far in track.

If it is consistently getting worse over 3 to 4 days of running then you probably shouldn't run. But when you do come back, there probably will be some scar tissue that is painful, but needs to be ran through easily to heal up. At least that was my experience. Good luck!

Thanks for your post! I'm 28, so hopefully it will heal fast but who knows! I have an appointment tomorrow with PT, maybe they can help.

When you say you came back to running after 2 weeks, did you take it easy (reduced miles, pace etc?) How long before you were back to "normal"? Im supposed to run a 10- miler in 3 weeks...but it doesnt sound like thats going to happen...

When I was back in high school I had a similar experience. For me, as a junior triathlete, I had done a pretty tough 3hr ride that day on the turbo, and was slated to go out and jog easy for 30min to shake out later in the day.

About 10' in had a bit of pain, was done running by 15'. Ended up taking ~4.5 weeks to get back to any real running. In the first 10 days I had a few false starts, but by 10-12' in the pain came back and I had to call it quits.

Things that helped while I couldn't run:

Rolling w/lacrosse ball

Single leg calf raises on a step (not a ton - 3x10-15 each leg morning and night)

Getting back in the weight room and working on stability and overall strength

Compression sleeves while sleeping at night

Once I started running:

Running in lower drop shoes for ~ 50% of my runs (Saucony Zealot, so still plenty of cushion); I usually ran in Adidas Tempo otherwise (lightweight stability)

Avoiding hills for the first few (two) weeks (used a treadmill a fair amount)

Continuing the strengthening program in the weight room and the calf raises

Avoiding longer runs - I opted for doubles instead of a true long run for the first 4 weeks.

I was still able to swim a ton and bike a ton while I had the injury. It's a frustrating one, because you'll feel absolutely fine, try to run, and it isn't ready. Give it time!

Calf injuries typically occur when the foot is dorsiflexed and pushing off hard. This occurs when running uphill fast and fast intervals/sprints.

You need to take a few days off. Then, you can KT tape the calf and return to a straight legged "marathoners shuffle" for a few days. (The way all the mid-packers run marathons barely lifting their feet or bending their knees.) After a couple weeks, you can run slowly on level terrain... absolutely no grades and nothing faster than a shuffle with no push off. If no problems, you can return to normal running while continuing to KT tape and avoid hills/sprints/racing for a couple more weeks. Then, you can test it pushing off with strides, stopping at the very first twinge if it the pain returns.

If you try to return to running too soon, you re-tear the scar tissue and for that torn part, the healing has to start over from day one.

Wearing compression socks might help. They helped me.

I came back after the two weeks. Did a 6 miler and strides and felt easy. Took the next day crosstraining, then did a hill workout. I knew during the warmup that my calf was not back to normal, but I decided to give the workout a try. Once I did the first rep the pain kind of dulled away and I finished the workout with minimal discomfort.

I tended to have workouts like that the rest of cross season, but I was in the pool 4 or 5 days a week and only running 3 or 4. I remember one workout a couple weeks after the first 2 week break I had stress fracture near limping pain for 3 miles on the warmup, but it got better a mile into the tempo.

I only ran through it because I needed to score for the team to reach its goals, it probably was not the smartest way to go about it. I probably wasn't back to normal for a month after I started back up.

I would say do 3 or 4 weeks off minimum and then, yeah, reduced pace, avoid hills. Maybe tempos would be okay tail end of your second week? Lots of massage on the area with the roller, your hands...

You will not race a 10 miler well in 3 weeks, I would back out of it unless you want to hobby jog it, but 10 miles is a lot for just starting back.