Pain

[chris54]

Its happened a few times now, each time it seems worse. Ill be laying in bed, just woken up and I go to move. Nothing vigorous just normal moving in bed like you do. Then it hits, a excruciating pain in my calf muscle. Only way to make it go away is to massage it. The muscle is rock hard, but pain eases fairly quickly but leaves some residual pain. It is getting worse each time, it happened 3 days ago and still feeling pain when I walk.

I could understand it if I was doing something vigorous, but just laying in bed, whats going on.

[LancsLad]

Chris I can get this from time to time. The way I describe this its as if someone has shot me in the back of the leg and it is a case of severe cramp. If I move in reaction to the pain I can cause some real tears to the muscle. If I massage it to try an loosen it very quickly I might get on top of it otherwise it is stiff for a few days, sounds similar?

 

A few years back I had a serious back injury to the L4, L5 area of my spine. I am hopefully also going for a CT scan in the next few weekd to look at potential genetic issues which run through my family regarding spine and joint conditions. I have always put this down to pressure in my back when I suspect very relaxed I manipulate my spine in a way to fire off really hard my sciatic nerve. The end nerve routes which are located deep in the calf muscles then fire off and naturally the mucle contracts hard that is what it is designed to do. The problem then is the antagonist muscles around it fire of to counteract this in a reflex action and lock up the system which can lead to minor tears in the muscles structure and the nerves keeping the area in a safety lock down potiion which feels like cramp. In this way sef massage works in that you are interveening and releasing the messages and trying to relak the muscle. The body thinks there has been a serious injury and often there can be a severe underlying tear which has occured.

 

The bad news is that I tend to get these instances in phases and that is because I believe a nerve or pressure on my spinal column has not been resolved. This means I try and get mobile and flexible in my back to try and improve the underlying situation which is difficult to exercise with a minor strain in your calf. Over time I become concious of the initial triggers starting and can sometimes be concious enough to actively block some of the signal by trying to relax muscles in my legs. I know every morning waking is a carefull thing for me and one which does not contain any sudden movements but rather I go through a pre flight check list to make sure my body is ok before any major movements.

 

I do not know if you have had serious back issues or have periods of sciatica in your past Chris but this is my explination of this scenario and I know when it happens it can make you very anxious about the following few nights sleep.

 

Best wishes.

[Linnet]

Hi Chris, This happens to me regularly and my calf muscle is sometimes sore all day afterwards. i've found the best way to ease the initial pain is to flex my foot so my toes are pointing upwards. This has an immediate effect although I've no idea why it works.

 

L x

[LancsLad]

Linnet, good advice.If your leg is straight what you are doing is stretching out the sciatic nerve.

 

If you also do this from a seated position in a chair and raise your leg straight as close to the horizontal as you can. With a straight back lean gently forwards the sit upright and relaxing your upper back turn your head and look to the celing or sky. Repeat with both legs a few times 20 or 30 if possible. This stretches and relaxes the nerve along its full length which often gets trapped in our buttocks can feel a lump there where it passes through muscle tissue. I find it gets tension out. If the episode has done damage in the calf then time will need to heal that.

 

I think with all these things given experience which is often painfully aquired we can learn to take preventitive measures when we sense issues coming on.

[chris54]

Thanks for reply. I have had problems with my back going back 30 years, had a number of occasions when I have been completely immobilised.

I now have lower back pain to varying degrees most of the time. Fortunately, or maybe not, I can block most pain out as long as I don't think about it to much.

[chris54]

Had a few bad days with my back, couldn't get out of bed this morning. Got some strong pain killers from the doctors this afternoon, Took 2 of my wife extra strong pain killers first thing which got me moving, but not far. Taking the next 2 nights off work. going on holiday at the weekend, hoping Ill be OK as we have a long drive to start with.

[justine1]

I used to get this alot in my third pregnancy I was told its a vitamin deficiency, though I cant remember which. I had far more aches and pains than in my othet pregnancies, he was taking all my vitamins.

[chris54]

Don't think I'm pregnant? Mind you if I am Ill be giving up work and live off the book royalties.

[justine1]

Is that supposed to be a dig at me? I was not suggesting you are pregnant anybody can have a vitamin deficiency and its quite easy to get tested. Just making a suggestion.

[chris54]

It probably Vitamin D deficiency that your thinking of. Apparently it is becoming more of a problem. Our main source should be from sunlight. But apparently we are not exposing our selves enough