The Weekend warrior - who, me?

It was Easter Sunday. We were catching up with Steve’s family at a park, in Mooroolbark, when a bit of a discussion starts, about who is the fastest sprinter there.

Naturally, I thought I was up there. I used to run in the 4 x 100m relay in high School. Steve and I had had a race about 1 month prior, where he pipped me at the post (damn his long legs).  So a little competition starts between his cousins and us, and its on. The race would be a 50m sprint.  I thought I had it in the bag.

So I started stretching my quads, mammies and adductors, because you know, I’m sensible and understand that 40 something year olds can often get a hamstring injury when running.  So I line up, Steve’s mum yells “Ready, Set, Go!” And we’re off. And Bang! Straight away, I felt something ping in my L calf. But I kept running, but terribly. I was so far behind, no chance of catching up, I scored a DNF and hobbled to the sideline.  

I initially thought it was a Calf strain, because I’m kinda fit and I moonlight as a dancer.  But as the swelling kicked in, I found it increasingly more difficult to weightbear. It was a substantial injury, and the only title I was claiming that day was “Weekend Warrior”.

A Weekend Warrior is what we in Allied Health call Patients who injure themselves at an event on the weekend. Usually at one of their Child’s sports games, or at a sport they haven’t played for a while and decided to give it another go.  It’s usually guys in their 30’s and 40’s, who have sedentary jobs, and then cram intense sports or workouts  into limited free time.  As we age, our muscles, tendons and ligaments lose some elasticity and strength.  And if you don’t play sport, or do some regular exercise, there’s an element of  deconditioning. Combine those together with explosive movements, changes of direction and accelerating/decelerating activities - our bodies sometimes won’t be happy with us. 

In my case, I had a Grade 1 calf tear.  There was a little bleeding and bruising and I was limping. So, how do we manage this kind of injury?  Well RICER is outdated. We now follow PEACE & LOVE:

Protect: restrict movement for 1 - 3 days to minimise bleeding, but avoid complete rest

Elevate: Raise the limb higher than the heart

Avoid Anti-Inflammatories: Avoid ice and NSAIDs initially as they can interfere with long term healing

Compress: use bandages to limit swelling

Educate: Learn about the benefits of active recovery

Load: Gradually introduce movement and weight-bearing to promote tissue remodelling

Optimism: Maintain a positive mindset for better recovery outcomes

Vascularisation: Engage in pain-free cardiovascular activity to increase blood flow

Exercise: Perform exercises to restore mobility and strength.

So I got some crutches to help me get around and reduce load on the injured calf.  I was a little naughty and had some anti-inflammatories initially, because I needed to work. But I was cautious. I didn’t push myself and allowed it to heal.  Steve helped out a lot, walking the dogs by himself and taking care of the housework.  I had some Osteo treatment 1.5 weeks into the injury, to move the swelling and promote fresh blood and nutrition to the injured tissues.  Gradually I was able to weight bear more and more.

So 2.5 weeks after the injury, I can weight bear about 80% on the L side.  I still can’t come up on my tiptoes, but my strength is improving every day and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to dance fun a couple of weeks.  Rehab for this will be crucial - I have a gig at the end of May, so I need to have confidence that I can move properly and not re-injure it again.  But we’re being Optimistic and keeping a positive mindset 😉

If you’ve injured yourself over the weekend and need some help getting better and managing your injury, come book in at The Dancing Osteo in Prahran. Open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  

Its not pretty, but thats what a calf tear may look like.