Exercises for calf strains | Advice Centre | Flawless Physio
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Exercises for calf strains

James McCormack
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Calf Strains are an injury that plagues runners but they are also consistently found in all sports that require rapid transitions of speed. There are a number of factors that can influence why someone gets a calf strain. It is important to get a correct diagnosis from a health professional before beginning any of these exercises.

Calf Stretch – Targets 45 seconds

Your priority should be to get full range of motion back in your calf as tightness can contribute to discomfort of your calf and increase your risk of re-injury. It is recommended that you don’t do this for the first 48-72 hours. Let you body control the inflammation stage of recovery, then after this period you can commence. We have attached a video of one of our clinicians doing a classic stretch off a wall but there is no issue with doing it by dropping your heel off a step. It’s just two variations of the same stretch. Try to slowly enter the stretch, do bounce and after the allotted timed slow return to your starting position.

Calf Strengthening

Calf strengthening is a fundamental part of the rehabilitation process. Too often, people just wait until their calf is pain free and then return to sport with a weaker calf than prior to their injury and immediately they re-injure themselves. We have provided normative ranges for calf raise strength. They are defined by age and sex. Please take a look at our demonstration video as well.

Calf Strength Normative Ranges

20-29yrs: Male 37, Female 30

30-39yrs: Male 32, Female 27

40-49yrs: Male 28, Female 24

50-59yrs: Male 23, Female 21

60-69yrs: Male 19, Female 19

70-79yrs: Male 14, Female 16

If you have any questions, please do get in contact. Our clinicians would be delighted to help

Otherwise, please feel free to share this information with anyone you feel they may benefit.

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