Tight
calves cause and contribute to all sorts of pain.
Calf and leg pain, foot, knee and hip pain, low
back pain, upper back pain, neck pain and
headaches.I kid you not. I see
it every day I'm at work.
More
pain
Tight calf
muscles cause more lower body pain and debility for
more people than almost any other single thing. It's not an
obvious connection but once you start stretching your
calves, you will see what I mean.
Hardest
worker
Our hearts are by
far the hardest working muscles in our bodies. Ceaselessly
pounding away for every second of our lives. If you built a
dam wall across the headlands of Sydney Harbour and plonked
a human heart on top of it and ran a hose down into it, that
heart would pump the harbour dry in the average lifetime.
That's how hard our hearts work.
Incredible!
2nd hardest workers
A long way behind
our hearts and a long way ahead of all
our other muscles are our calves. Our
calves are by far the second hardest working
muscles in our bodies.
The back works harder
All the muscles at the back of us work a
whole lot harder than the muscles at the front of us because
of the way we are designed. Our intendancy is
to fall forwards, not backwards. We are
designed to move forward but also to curl, crumple or
collapse forward.
Arch backward as far as you can and you'll
have a slight to moderate curve. Arch forward as far as you
can and you'll curl up in a ball.
Energy and effort
So the greatest effort in keeping you
upright is expended by the muscles at the back of
your neck, torso and legs.
Because of leverage, the closer you go to
a fulcrum, the more energy or effort is required to effect
the lever.
Height x weight x
leverage
Think of it like this. If you take a pole
that is the same weight and height as you. If you hold it
upright with one end of it on the ground and one of your
hands at shoulder height and tilt the pole over at 30
degrees, you could hold it there for hours, maybe even all
day. Easy.
It's all about
leverage
Now, if you slide your hand right to the
bottom of the pole so your hand is touching the ground, and
you lean the pole over at 30 degrees, how much harder is it
to hold it there? It's harder alright, much, much harder.
Because of leverage.
Our amazing calves
And there are your calves, right at the
bottom of the 'pole' - you, tirelessly working day in and
day out, keeping you upright. This in itself is a humongous
effort but it's not even half the story.
Loco
Your calves are also the chief muscles of
locomotion, your ability to walk or run
around. Stop for a minute and think about how much time you
spend walking around. How many steps you have taken in
your life, how far have you travelled on foot?
70 million steps every 20
years
We take about 5 to 10 thousand steps a
day. At the lower end of the scale that's still over 1.8
million steps a year. At the higher end of the scale,
it's more like 3.5 million steps! Every year. So if
you're fairly active, that's over 70
million steps every 20 years!
If you're in you 80's that's in the
vicinity of a quarter of a billion steps!
No wonder you may feel a bit weary by the
end of the day.
No wonder our calves get tight!
Momentum
Now think about each step. From a standing
start you transfer all of your weight onto, say, your
left leg and swing your right leg forward. Before
your right heel strikes the ground, your left calf
muscles have been engaged and start contracting to lift
your left heel off the ground and continue the momentum
forward.
The muscles of your right leg contract to
take the weight as your mass passes over the top of
it.
Smooth
As this is happening, your left heel is
moving higher, smoothly transferring your weight up the
outside of the sole of your foot to the front third of your
left foot. The force then swings across towards
the base of the big toe.
Swing and pivot
As it does this the foot pivots on the
area where the long bones of the feet, the
metatarsals, meet the toes, the phalanges,
hence the name, metatarso-phalangeal joints.
(MTPJ's)
Head honcho toe
The first MTPJ at the base of the big toe
is the most important of these. It takes most of the weight
as you continue forward and it, and the big
toe, provide the fulcrum and power to continue your
forward momentum.
Again and again
As you keep moving forward, the right calf
takes up tension and starts to lift the right heel off
the ground to continue the cycle. Again and again and
again....
If you have bunions or gout you'll know
just how important the first MTPJ is because when they are
playing up, it hurts like crazy to walk.
Lions Share
The point here is that your calves do the
lions share of moving you forward when you walk. They
are what lifts your foot, from back to front, off the
ground and propels your forward, whenever you walk
anywhere.
They areunsungheroes in our
lives. All of the muscles of your legs, indeed of your whole
body, are involved in locomotion but none works
harder and has such an important role, as your
calves.
Look after your
calves
Look after your calves, they have a large
bearing on the quality of your life. More than you think.
Whether or not you have back pain but especially if you do.
The older you get the more important it becomes.
That right calf
Whenever I treat, I always check a persons
calves, regardless of what their presenting problem is.
Almost everyone has tight unbalanced calves. By unbalanced I
mean that one is tighter than the other. And it is almost
always the right calf that is tighter. Almost always.
If you have one calf that is tighter than
the other, a torsional effect is created that
almost always effects the pelvis and low back, and usually
the rest of the body as well.
Typical Strain
Pattern
The twisting effect causes the Typical
Strain Pattern. I see this pattern all day, every single day
that I'm at work. It has been there in most of the
people that I've ever treated for chronic and recurring
muscle joint and back pain. So there's a fair chance that
you may have it too. At the very least you will have a
variation or elements of it.
Rare
Rarely do I see a problem in the lower
half of the body, low back, pelvic, hip or leg pain, that
does not have this typical strain pattern or a variation of
it. And it's usually there in upper body problems too.
Learn this one thing
Understanding this strain pattern and how
to deal with it may be the single best thing you'll ever
learn about eliminating or reducing and better managing your
pain.
Tight calves
People often say to
me “How can I have tight calves, I walk around all day”.
Well, there’s the answer, they walk around all day, (and
never stretch). Muscle tightens up in response to strong or
prolonged use, and that is exactly what standing or walking
for much of your day is.
Stretch your
calves
The answer to this
age old dilemma is usually very simple.
Stretch your
calves for a few minutes, a few, or more times a
day.
Some is good, more
is better.
Stretch your
calves
The sorer your
feet and the tighter your calves, the more you need to
stretch.Simple as that. I
love the simple stuff that works!
Stretch your
calves
If you stretch a few
times and your feet still hurt, don’t give up, do more,
lots more.
Give it
heaps
Up to every hour or
so. Stretching your calves is quick, easy, effective,
convenient and free. What more could you ask for? You
just have to remember tokeep doing
it.
High
low
Use high
frequency and low to moderate intensity – do lots of
stretches, not very hard.
Low back
pain
And what's more,
calf stretching will also reduce or relieve much of the
chronic or recurring lower back pain that so many people
suffer.
You beauty. It
sounds too simple, but it works. It really does, for most
people. If your back hurts, diligently stretch your
calves.
Burn ache
hurt - stretch stretch stretch
If your feet burn,
your legs ache or your back hurts, stretch and
stretch and stretch your calves. Some is good, more is
better.