While playing our weekly Wed night basketball, I injured my calf muscle in the same leg where I had previously ruptured my Achilles. I wasn’t moving very fast, and the motion was similar to how I ruptured my Achilles. I was moving slowly backwards and then shifted my momentum forward. I then heard and felt a faint pop in my calf, and the first thing that went though my head was “crap..”.
I limped off the court and felt for my achilles.. and it was still there so I am hoping I didn’t do more damage than tearing my calf muscle.
I drove home and did a quick Google search for torn calf muscle, and it seems like treatment is basically RICE. I don’t think it’s bad enough that it would require surgery, and I hope I can be “limp free” in the next couple of weeks. I’ll most likely hold off on playing basketball for a month or two.
Well, I should have seen it coming. I haven’t been getting enough exercise due to work/life, and I haven’t been making it a priority to take care of my body. I’ve put on some pounds and playing basketball once a week in this state is a recipe for an injury.
I am all for getting back to playing bball and tennis, but I need to be smarter about it. I shouldn’t be out there unless I am fit enough to play without getting injured. Well, I think I’ve yelled at myself enough.. going to bed. 
Happy healing everyone!
23 responses so far ↓
1 gabe // Dec 1, 2011 at 1:17 am
Hi Dennis, I’m sorry to hear about your calf injury. Please don’t be too hard on yourself. Have a quick and complete recovery,
2 ali // Dec 1, 2011 at 6:03 pm
Sorry to hear about this Dennis. Agree with Gabe, don’t be too hard on yourself. Heres to a speedy recovery for you.
3 housemusic // Dec 1, 2011 at 6:39 pm
Oh Denis…so sorry to hear this. I hope this is a just a little bump in the road and you’ll be fine soon. Maybe it is a reminder that this injury changes you forever, and have to be careful, always…
4 dennis // Dec 1, 2011 at 9:05 pm
thanks everyone. I’ve decided to go see a doctor tomorrow. will post more later.
5 subdigit // Dec 2, 2011 at 9:29 pm
always good to get it checked out just in case. sorry to hear about yet another injury.
always hard to get that work/life and fit in that exercise balance somewhere in there. time for me to roll out of my chair eventually…
6 Lynell // Dec 7, 2011 at 5:45 pm
I’m 10 weeks post op from a full rupture today, AND 10 weeks of no real working out beyond some boring gym upper body and abs. I’m allowed to bike but only at a low resistance so it would take me hours to get a proper sweat in and who has that kind of time these days! Any tips for getting in a proper workout without facing negative consequences (i.e. my foot swelled up like an oversized sausage when I tried to go a little harder on the bike for a little longer last week) for a psycho athlete who is close to going stir crazy after not getting in any proper work outs for 11 weeks now? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
7 ryanb // Dec 7, 2011 at 5:58 pm
Lynell- ask your doc if it’s OK to start swimming. I found that I could swim without compromise, 100% effort, maxing my cardio, starting at around 5 weeks.
If it’s warm enough where you are, you might try getting out in a Kayak too.
8 ultidad // Dec 12, 2011 at 11:37 pm
Dennis-
I had a (probably) similar calf injury - in the middle of a day-long ultimate tournament. It completely ended my playing that day. An ortho friend told me that those injuries are usually a tear in the space between the gastroc and the soleus. It hurt like stink right away, but I recall the recovery being pretty quick and benign. Hope the same for you.
9 shamrock // Feb 18, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Just had surgery for achilles tendon tear. Almost 2 weeks later and have a cast and crutches. Tough going, with 3 teenage boys and a hubby, it’s a big change for everyone.
Injury happend in a boot camp class, on a jump up into the air. We all heard a bang, it was like my shoe had exploded.
10 Marie // Feb 22, 2012 at 11:40 am
just make sure that hubby and those three teenage boys lookafter you!
11 baarucebruce // Jul 5, 2012 at 6:28 am
Hey Dennis,
Your blog was the very first of many that I began reading (both on achillesblog.com and elsewhere) and I ironically found out you were one of the first to start this great idea. I ruptured mine about a week ago and have been dreading all of the news that I’ve been getting — up until I came across this amazing community. As a young, 20-something, active male who’s been fortunate to never had any major injury, I was at a loss of spirit until I began reading all of the reassuring blogs/comments on here. I’m about an hour away from surgery and just beginning my road to recovery but I know I already owe you a HUGE thank you! Every single one of you!
12 baarucebruce // Jul 5, 2012 at 6:31 am
I did also forget to mention (I got lost in my appreciation that I totally forgot!) that I had also seen a section titled “ATR Equipment Donations” and saw that at one point (there was no date of the post) that you had a CAM boot you were donating. I don’t have health insurance — major bummer, I know — and so I found some interest in inquiring if that was still available. Shoot me an email
b.squared5@gmail.com.
Thanks again, and God bless!
13 Gerald // Aug 5, 2012 at 9:29 am
Hello Dennis;
I ruptured my left achilles(partial tear) very similar to how you did on the court on 6/14/12. My initial diagnosis was documented as a strain so I walked around on my leg until my first available appointment with a podiatrist on 7/24/12. A MRI was done on me on 7/27/12 and I was diagnosed with the rupture and partial tear of my left achilles. I’m scheduled for surgery on 8/9/12. I was informed by my surgeon that the leg operated on will always be bigger than the other. This kind of scares me. I would like to know if anyone else has experienced this and if the difference in size is so noticeable to a level of depression? Thanks
14 kkirk // Sep 23, 2012 at 7:11 pm
Hey Dennis,
Sorry to hear about your calf. I tore my AT awhile back playing basketball also and didn’t realize it at first. I just created my blog at http://achillesblog.com/kkirk/ (Thanks) and I wish that I found this site four months ago when I first injured myself. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you and hope your calf heals up soon.
15 dennis // Sep 23, 2012 at 11:10 pm
Hi Kevin,
Glad that you found AchillesBlog, and I hope the surgery goes smoothly. Keep us posted!
Regarding my calf, it’s healed nicely.
I’ve been playing basketball regularly since then, but I injured my lower back last week. I don’t think it’s serious, but I’ll have to take a week off so that it heals and I don’t reinjure myself . I think I just strained it. It’s always something..
16 Doug53 // Oct 28, 2012 at 11:23 pm
Hi Dennis,
As an old timer here, I have used the Amazon search on your main page for my Amazon orders. I’m curious, how much of a cut do you get for the site when I do that?
As always, thank you for keeping up this page and helping so many people with a new and scary injury.
Best wishes,
Doug
17 hendrenville // Dec 31, 2012 at 12:27 am
Hi Dennis,
Thanks for running this site, in the couple days since I’ve found it, I have found it very informative and enlightening.
I have since, tryed to start my own blog through the achillesblog.com site (wordpress). I’m not a very big tech guy and have had fun trying to figure out what I’m doing (lots of time to kill now), but when trying to set up the “marathon tracker - ATR timeline” - when I follow the steps under the “user” section, nothing regarding achilles appears.
I think I may have messed it up? Just thought it’d be fun to track my rehab as others are doing.
My blog is http://www.ryanhendren.wordpress.com. Any suggestions you can make would be great.
Thanks and take care,
Ryan
18 normofthenorth // Dec 31, 2012 at 1:55 am
Ryan, I think setting up your own blog on wordpress doesn’t exactly get you a blog here (at achillesblog.com), which only Dennis can set up. Instructions on the main page here — basically you email Dennis and he sets up your basic “Hello World” blog, which you then fill in and make your own.
Once you get an a_b_.com blog, the various widgets etc. will work.
19 georgiemac // Apr 27, 2013 at 8:47 am
Hi D - Hope you recover fast and don’t be hard on yourself!
20 ekiaer // Apr 27, 2013 at 6:58 pm
Dennis,
Although your post is from a while back, I just saw it and it rings a bell with me. For almost 15 years prior to my achilles rupture, I have had multiple incidents with calf problems similar to yours. My calves would slowly start to feel tight if I ran too much or otherwise strained my calves too much, and then it would POP. A week of alternate exercise and I could slowly resume walking and running and get back to normal within a month or so.
The first time this happened, I went to see a doctor who couldn’t find anything wrong, but signed me up for a study as I had an abnormal firing pattern in the muscles in my back and hamstrings. After a long effort in PT for that (for free…) I was given a gait analysis and the PT immediately saw why I had calf issues - I was using my calves to move my leg forward without using the hipflexors. Hence, the calves were working twice as hard as they should.
Since then, I have somewhat successfully managed to control the calf issues by changing my gait and making sure I control how much I run. But even so, I will feel the onset of a pop from time to time, and then need to slow down again. I had an incident a week before my achilles blew.
So, long story short, strengthening the hip flexors and being conscious of one’s gait can help reduce the strain on the calf and Achilles. At a minimum, it’s a theory…
21 Richard // May 2, 2013 at 5:22 pm
Bad luck Dennis - Why don’t you start a calf strain blog HAHAHA
Richard.
22 Ronald Lavine, D.C. // May 11, 2013 at 9:59 am
I frequently treat patients with Achilles tendon problems (not complete ruptures - that’s for the surgeons, not me) and I’ve come to believe that eccentric strengthening is an important aid to recovery.
The article on my blog yourbodyofknowledge.com/achilles-tendon-recovery gives a quick outline of the eccentric strengthening procedure.
But I’d be interested in getting more feedback from individuals coping with Achilles tendon problems. Is this a procedure you’ve incorporated into your recovery? At what stage of healing? Are you satisfied with the results?
I’m also interested in hearing from anyone who has switched to a forefoot landing style of running in the hopes of helping their Achilles tendon.
23 tornado4delta // Jun 21, 2013 at 12:35 pm
Hey Dennis,
I must admit I am not tech savvy and have had trouble starting my page. I’m just coming out of the why did this happen phase and want to post on my blog. I need help on the preschool level. Thanks
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