Hello Everyone. I wonder how to avoid calf muscle pulled? I was so busy at school and I haven't training in 2 weeks or 3 weeks. My friend invited me to play badminton with him. I did stretch few minutes and then we played it hard. half hour later, I got my calf muscle pulled. It was really pain. I stopped play it and went to home. Can you tell me how to avoid it please? Hk-Man
My only guess is you didn't warm up and then stretch. I've always been told (but I don't always follow) that you should warm up first before you stretch. That allows your muscles to stretch better I think...Plus when you first start playing the first 10-15 min or so, don't play so hard...make sure all your muscles are warmed up or else it will easily strain itself. Another important thing is to stretch properly after you're done playing and drink plenty of water. I used to not stretch after games and after a few weeks of not stretching, my calf muscle was really straining and it was difficult to move as easily anymore. I am no doctor or physiotherapist or anything, but I've experienced that problem before and definitely the proper warm up, stretching, and hydration helped a lot. Of course, if it gets worst or anything, consult your doctor! Hope that helps.
you might not had been stretching both of your calf muscles, you need to stretch 2 of your major calf muscles 1 = gastrocneumius muscle (the stretch where your knee is straight) 2 = soleus (the stretch where you bend your knee) warm up before you play = 5mins (stretches + jog or whatever) play cool down after play = 5mins (stretches + jog or whatever) however there is also a muscle fibre component, we have 2 kinds of muscle fibres, fast twitching and slow twitching, for your quick large amplitude movements you need to grow fast twitch fibres, however if you dont exercise for a while (2wks is sufficient time), you lose these fast twitching fibres and you can easily strain yourself. therefore you need to progress your exercise, cant just jump into high level exercise after stoping for few weeks. next is a general fitness component, where your muscles are not efficient in uptaking oxygen and therefore you get pain if you overwork hope this helps 3rd yr physio.
