Soleus injury - how long to rest?

[Deleted User]

Hi,

I damaged the upper part of my left soleus muscle a while back. It came on slowly and I thought it was just one of these aches you get that come and go, but it stayed and I realised I could be running myself into a serious injury.

There was never any sudden pain, and it was possible to still run, but it was getting to the stage where I was not running properly anymore (I was taking weight off my left leg).

So, I did what I usually do when I have a running injury - went crazy road cycling and using the cross trainer at the gym (also went for three visits to a good remedial massage guy who is also a serious runner) . I did this last year when I pulled my gastronemius muscle and the muscle healed fine.

Seems to be different with the soleus though. Although I could cycle and train at the gym on it without pain, when I wasn't training I could feel a dull ache and it was tender to touch the area, so I decided I had to have a complete lay off (nightmare). It's now 2 weeks since I've done anything with my legs but walk and climb ladders at work, and I no longer feel any pain at all, but I am not going to risk running yet in case I bring it right back.

I've read that 4 - 6 weeks is recommended for soft tissue injuries and I am wondering if I can get away with 4 weeks (NEED TO RUN AGAIN ).

Anybody on here got an opinion on how long I should leave it before I start back again.

[Deleted User]

I would say a mild soleus tear would be fine in 4 weeks if it just a simple tear. If you've had it a while though perhaps it has torn, healed and retorn in the same spot creating scar tissue. Scar tissue makes a weak repair which can go again relatively easily. Personally I massage out scar tissue in such spots myself nowadays but the first time I had it done by a physio. Another thing you might consider is strengthening your calves by doing lots of heel raises, straight knee for gastrocs and bent knee for soleus. Massage and heel raises (plus the right shoes) fixed long term calf problems for me.

[Deleted User]

I think you're right about the scar tissue thing. My Dad has been saying the same thing to me. I will go back and get some more sports massage on it.

Two weeks to go..........

[Deleted User]

One week to go.............

If my soleus goes I will be pretty stressed out

[Deleted User]

Have you've been gently stretching as it gets better. If you don't muscles tend to heal shorter which puts them under more stress when you come back. There's plenty of stuff on here which will tell you how to come back from a calf tear, if you tear it again from lack of effort, lack of research or laziness you'll only have yourself to blame. Build up slowly when you start running again - but you know that, you've read about it on this forum

[Deleted User]

No i've been scared to stretch it, but maybe I'll do a bit now.

I plan to build up slowly but it will be hard. I just want to go out and hammer out a 7 miler on the hills, but I know that is not advisable in the extreme.