Strain on calf muscle is quite common. If you are involved with any type of sports or doing any regular activity, you may suffer from calf muscle tear. Strain on calf muscles affects when the muscle is stretched forcibly beyond its limit. Excessive stretch results in tearing the muscle, which is actually a minor tear of muscle fibers.

Photo Credit: Physioroom.com/catalog/Calf_Shin_Supports/2032.html

Calf strains are generally graded into three levels such as Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3, which causes mild, moderate and severe discomfort respectively. When you have a strain on calf muscle, you will find it difficult to walk and feel pain while sitting or even while resting.

Got some idea about problem? You even have probably recognized the symptoms that you might have been dealing with. Therefore, it is the time you start finding proper solution to heal calf muscle tear.

Tips To Heal Calf Muscle Tear

Heel Lifts

Taking pressure off your heel is important if the calf strain has taken place because of an injury. You can visit a store that sells athletic shoes and get heel lifts from there.

These lifts can ease the strain on muscles and tendons and ease-off the pressure from your heel. You can also make heel lifts on your own. Take two corks and cut them into pieces that are 1/4th inch-thick. Now, place these pieces on your shoes and wear them regularly.

Photo Credit: Torncalfmuscle.com/

Heat and Ice Effect

Application of both heat and cold can be helpful to heal calf muscle injury. Before making any activity that involves your leg, you can apply mild heat pack on the affected area so that the muscles can loosen.

This is effective before exercising or stretching. When the activities are over, you can apply ice pack as it stimulates the blood flow and reduce the inflammatory response of the injured area.

Stretching

Stretching the affected area is helpful, but it should be a gentle stretch. Do not stretch vigorously as it can cause further damage of the area.

Compression Bandage

Restrict the swelling by using a compression bandage. Wrap the bandage from the toe up to the injured area, but do not wrap too tightly. The bandage will compress the area because of the elasticity factor even if you do not wrap overtly.

Resting Calf Muscle

Give some rest to the strained calf muscle. Do not continue your usual walking and running schedule, particularly, within the initial 24 hours. Give it proper rest for at least a day or two and consult a physician to know about the effective exercises that you can start on after giving proper rest to the injured area.

Photo Credit: Footballrescue.com/thigh.htm

After getting back on your feet, do not engage into activities that can increase the pain. How long it will take to heal the injury completely depends on its severity.

Generally, the healing period for Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3 are 1 week to 10 days, 4 to 6 weeks, and around 3 months respectively. If you are feeling pain in the calf muscles, do not take it casually. Make sure you do not worsen the condition.