Thought provoking article. My question is how can the calf, ankle, and achilles be better supported to prevent a calf strains in the first place? And or how could they be better supported after a calf strain so that they can continue playing while the calf strain heals without the risk to additional injury?
These injuries are so common, also David Beckham, Kobe Bryant had these issues. Kobe Bryant reportedly flew to Germany to get a reconstructive knee surgery that involved stem cells.
On the surface related debate, the jets/giants field is terrible and there’s a reason so many players in the league want it replaced. I’d be curious to see if, following your line of thinking, statistically more injuries happen to players who play on that field in a season than not, even if the injury shows up and gets worse in the weeks following playing there. As a 49ers fan, I understand why many of their players are hesitant about playing there. A few years ago the niners had several lower leg injuries there to several key players that ended their seasons essentially. Also could be wrong but I think field conditions at that superbowl were criticized even though it was grass. Injuries in sports suck! Fans want to see the best players be available when it matters most. I’m hoping for better prevention and better treatment options going forward
Great article, thank you. In 2008, I had a non-contact gastroc tear during an arrest operation when I was on the SWAT team. When the arrest take down signal was given my partner and I jumped out of our vehicle. We were in a high-crime area of the southwest border near Nogales, AZ. When I felt the sting, I turned around and thought I either got shot, but for that moment envisioned turning around to see someone stabbing me with a knife in the lower leg. I turned back and no one was there. By the time I even looked forward again I couldn’t move. When the arrests were made safely, my partner returned to me leaning on the front of our vehicle. He asked me if I was ok and what happened. I told him I didn’t know but also told him I couldn’t walk.
Up to that point I had been an avid runner. If I remember correctly they said I almost tore the gastroc off the Achilles, but because that didn’t happen, I didn’t need surgery. Rehab took I believe 6-9 months until I felt comfortable running or sprinting again, but my running life was never the same after that day.
Wow, what a story! It's a good thing that you weren't in direct harm's way when that happened.
Achilles tendon and calf injuries are definitely a huge deal, and can sideline the best runners. It's good that you were able to srpint again, but imagine it would be tough to get back to 100%.
What was rehab like? I am a huge fan of eccentric calf raises for Achilles tendon injuries (when done properly), and imagine they would work well at the later stages of a gastroc tear.
Rehab was tough. My wife, then fiance, freaked out because this happened about 6-7 weeks before we got married. I told her not to worry, I’d be ready in time to dance. So I really hustled with rehab because I didn’t want to sit all night at my own wedding. I do not quite remember what all we did for rehab seeing that it was 17 years ago now. They knew my goal was to get back to running and sprinting.
I remembered when we got to the point of rehab when they had me do sprints and I had this terror of tearing my gastroc again at their clinic. A calf injury really does mess with your mind, but over time you learn to trust your body again. I mainly recall that my rehab, because I didn’t have surgery, involved a lot of stretching and then various exercise movements to strengthen and test the stability of the muscle then eventually we moved to walking/jogging over a few months. I can say I enjoyed my wedding and honeymoon but I was far from 100%, but I credit rehab with allowing me to enjoy that time.
That's great to hear that you managed to achieve the wedding goal!
I'm a physical therapy professor (but not a PT myself!), so it's always great to hear successful rehab stories, and ones with such personal goals like that.
I've had some of my own Achilles issues (just bad tendinopathy, not a tear) and totally get it - that fear of going hard and tearing/re-tearing is VERY real and scary! And even when it's 100% healed, many still compensate out of the fear. I remember trying to do single leg hops and barely being able to do theml not because of pain, but fear that it would be painful.
Thanks for sharing your story and glad it was one with a [mostly] positive outcome!
Great breakdown! Its bizarre to me when these get termed “freak accidents” when we have seen enough recent sports history and know enough of the mechanics to draw a connection. I wonder when we will get good enough data to eventually give real risk of achilles ruptures based on prior calf strain/tendonitis issues.
Having real risk of rupture would be incredibly powerful! I imagine that would be really challenging to develop, but would be so helpful to help advise athletes.
We only remember those cases where they actually have a dramatic headline-mkaing event happen, but there's so many others that may never rupture — so it would be really valuable if we could figure out what other factors influence the eventual outcome.
Thought provoking article. My question is how can the calf, ankle, and achilles be better supported to prevent a calf strains in the first place? And or how could they be better supported after a calf strain so that they can continue playing while the calf strain heals without the risk to additional injury?
These injuries are so common, also David Beckham, Kobe Bryant had these issues. Kobe Bryant reportedly flew to Germany to get a reconstructive knee surgery that involved stem cells.
On the surface related debate, the jets/giants field is terrible and there’s a reason so many players in the league want it replaced. I’d be curious to see if, following your line of thinking, statistically more injuries happen to players who play on that field in a season than not, even if the injury shows up and gets worse in the weeks following playing there. As a 49ers fan, I understand why many of their players are hesitant about playing there. A few years ago the niners had several lower leg injuries there to several key players that ended their seasons essentially. Also could be wrong but I think field conditions at that superbowl were criticized even though it was grass. Injuries in sports suck! Fans want to see the best players be available when it matters most. I’m hoping for better prevention and better treatment options going forward
Great article, thank you. In 2008, I had a non-contact gastroc tear during an arrest operation when I was on the SWAT team. When the arrest take down signal was given my partner and I jumped out of our vehicle. We were in a high-crime area of the southwest border near Nogales, AZ. When I felt the sting, I turned around and thought I either got shot, but for that moment envisioned turning around to see someone stabbing me with a knife in the lower leg. I turned back and no one was there. By the time I even looked forward again I couldn’t move. When the arrests were made safely, my partner returned to me leaning on the front of our vehicle. He asked me if I was ok and what happened. I told him I didn’t know but also told him I couldn’t walk.
Up to that point I had been an avid runner. If I remember correctly they said I almost tore the gastroc off the Achilles, but because that didn’t happen, I didn’t need surgery. Rehab took I believe 6-9 months until I felt comfortable running or sprinting again, but my running life was never the same after that day.
Wow, what a story! It's a good thing that you weren't in direct harm's way when that happened.
Achilles tendon and calf injuries are definitely a huge deal, and can sideline the best runners. It's good that you were able to srpint again, but imagine it would be tough to get back to 100%.
What was rehab like? I am a huge fan of eccentric calf raises for Achilles tendon injuries (when done properly), and imagine they would work well at the later stages of a gastroc tear.
Rehab was tough. My wife, then fiance, freaked out because this happened about 6-7 weeks before we got married. I told her not to worry, I’d be ready in time to dance. So I really hustled with rehab because I didn’t want to sit all night at my own wedding. I do not quite remember what all we did for rehab seeing that it was 17 years ago now. They knew my goal was to get back to running and sprinting.
I remembered when we got to the point of rehab when they had me do sprints and I had this terror of tearing my gastroc again at their clinic. A calf injury really does mess with your mind, but over time you learn to trust your body again. I mainly recall that my rehab, because I didn’t have surgery, involved a lot of stretching and then various exercise movements to strengthen and test the stability of the muscle then eventually we moved to walking/jogging over a few months. I can say I enjoyed my wedding and honeymoon but I was far from 100%, but I credit rehab with allowing me to enjoy that time.
That's great to hear that you managed to achieve the wedding goal!
I'm a physical therapy professor (but not a PT myself!), so it's always great to hear successful rehab stories, and ones with such personal goals like that.
I've had some of my own Achilles issues (just bad tendinopathy, not a tear) and totally get it - that fear of going hard and tearing/re-tearing is VERY real and scary! And even when it's 100% healed, many still compensate out of the fear. I remember trying to do single leg hops and barely being able to do theml not because of pain, but fear that it would be painful.
Thanks for sharing your story and glad it was one with a [mostly] positive outcome!
Great breakdown! Its bizarre to me when these get termed “freak accidents” when we have seen enough recent sports history and know enough of the mechanics to draw a connection. I wonder when we will get good enough data to eventually give real risk of achilles ruptures based on prior calf strain/tendonitis issues.
Thanks!
Having real risk of rupture would be incredibly powerful! I imagine that would be really challenging to develop, but would be so helpful to help advise athletes.
We only remember those cases where they actually have a dramatic headline-mkaing event happen, but there's so many others that may never rupture — so it would be really valuable if we could figure out what other factors influence the eventual outcome.