Injury... yeah... about that

So I'm going through a bit of a trial right now. Every runner despises it, yet we all have to face it in one form or another at some point.

The dreaded injury has struck and landed in my calves. It's an extremely uncomfortable all-encompassing tightness in my gastroc and soleus. No matter how much you stretch or when you stretch, the feeling does not go away. I ran through it for a couple of weeks, but knew the feeling was beyond the sore or tight feelings that are expected from time to time. I found myself very drained from mentally managing the pain through the longer runs. Eventually, even the short 5 mile recoveries became dreadful. It really started to aggravate me to the point that I was losing it. I was seeing improvements from my training (besides the calf pain) and I just wanted to continue in my training progress problem free.

I sucked it up and went to my PCP (who I made sure was a runner before I selected him 2 years back). He assumed (as did I) that it was just adhesions that needed to get worked on in the muscles. I had the pleasure of taking more time out of a day on Wednesday to go to the PT, who was nice, but admitted that she spends far less time treating athletes than she does treating people who are older and/or rehabbing from surgery. She proceeded to go through an extensive regimen of tasks to narrow down the problem (range of motion measurements, massages, stretches, 101 questions, treadmill tests, etc.). I found myself repeating the same descriptions and answers over and over. After 2 hours I went home. The next 2 days I ran more and I hurt more.

I went back on Friday and we did ultra sound and intense myofacial release, to no avail. And, wait for it.... another treadmill test. We spent another large amount of time where she asked- "Does this hurt? Is this the same pain?" She's the type of person who thinks out loud and her questions were becoming more frequently followed by her saying "that concerns me" or "that's not good". She finally admitted that she thought the pain is not a result of the adhesions or any muscular imbalances.

I asked her what direction this was heading and she said it could be a form of compartment syndrome. I don't believe I have a bad case of it (which requires surgery), but it does suck, so after I meet with her tomorrow we will have a final verdict on where I'm headed.

I took the liberty of consulting a friend who's been through the ringer with compartment syndrome. She had a bad case of it and had to have the full surgery where they release all 4 compartments in the lower leg or "calf" muscles. She referenced me to Glasson Sports Medicine in VB that specializes in working with athletes. Evidently their staff is top notch. That appointment is still being arranged by my PCP, so hopefully I can get to a visit and answer soon.

Until then, I'm running, but the runs are shorter. Can we say annoying?