Symmetrical muscular pain along the inside of the calves (soleus) which is causing pain around the tibias. Definitely muscular, not a stress fracture or tendinitis.
On days when it is very bad, I am limping when I walk, and running is out of the question. On better days (after rolling out my calves for an hour straight under my desk during class), I can walk mostly normally but still can't run. Stairs really suck.
I haven't run in a week and have been cross training on the bike and rolling out my legs everyday which seems to help. My school's athletic trainers told me my calves are extremely tight and my shins might be weak.
I have been doing some band exercises which seem to help, and tried some light calf raises but that seemed to provoke the pains, so I backed off that.
I heard that using ice isn't good for this type of (I hate to say it) "injury," and that heat is a healing process of the body, so should I avoid icing and ice baths?
Anything else I could do to loosen up calves and relieve pain? Foam rolling and rolling with the stick help, as does self massaging the area. Maybe icy hot or something like that?
I don't want to take anymore time off, so any advice is appreciated. Thanks.