Tight calves/feet falling asleep while running?

This sounds exactly like compartment syndrome. I have it. You have to get a test to know for 100% sure.

Ah interesting, I wasn't really thinking about this in terms of injury so this is helpful. Will probably try and see a physio then

I'd try fairly aggressive foam rolling the calves several times a day, and before/after a run.

Compartment syndrome seems likely. Aggressive rolling is the key cos you do NOT want the surgery. Look up some pics. It's brutal, old-school stuff.

Another possibility is compression of the tibial nerve. It, along with the common fibular branch supply the leg, and both course through the back of the knee (which does have a name, it's the popliteal fossa). Perhaps if it's not compartment syndrome, general swelling on the area may be compressing the nerve and causing the symptoms you describe

You can certainly get the compartment syndrome checked out, but I'd focus on the tight caves and see if stretching those out doesn't fix it.

The human body relies on skeletal muscle pumping to return pooled venous blood, as well as interstitial fluid, back to the heart. Three lower limb skeletal muscle pumps exist, the foot pump, the calf muscle pump, and the thigh pump. The foot pump serves primarily to "prime" the calf muscle pump, which provides about three-quarters of the fluid return from the lower body to the heart, while the thigh pump provides the remaining quarter. The soleus muscles are so critical in returning blood to the heart that they have come to be called the "secondary hearts" of the body. The cardiovascular system in the upright person should, therefore, be viewed as a two-pump system where the cardiac muscle circulates blood, and the soleus muscles return pooled blood and lymphatic fluid back to the heart.

If you're calves are tight then they aren't activating correctly and the lack of blood will cause your feet to fall asleep. Have you switched to lower drop shoes recently, or changed to a more mid-/forefoot landing, or increased you miles or done something else to stress your calves?

Try wearing shoes with a high heel drop (10-12% or more) and see if that helps and then slowly work your way to lower drop shoes to stretch out your calves gradually.

Thanks, this is interesting! I did also have a bit of achilles pain several weeks back also/was dealing with IAT a bit last year (perhaps I'm just predisposed to tighter calves/posterior muscles), and may have changed my running form to compensate for that a bit potentially. And had been slowly increasing mileage by around 10% per week so that may have introduced some additional stress. I typically do all my training in 8mm drop shoes so will look into something with higher drop. Will take the other suggestions here also and cut milage back a bit/focus on rolling etc

Have you tried compression socks?

moefarah wrote:

Have you tried compression socks?

Not yet- will consider trying that as well