Tight calf muscle - some advice.

My cousin's son is a triathlon trainer. He heard about my struggles and offered this advice:

"Hey Louis good to hear you're doing so well with the tri's. yeah I think you hit about everything on the cramping problems. Bananas, fluids, etc... The only other things to consider would be massage maybe 1 min on each calf once to twice a day. And then also drinking fluids with Electrolytes. By drinking water and only water you don't refuel the glycogen you burn when you exercise. By exercising without electrolytes like gatorade or some other form after 60-75 min your body (calfs) start to cramp. After it happens once it starts to happen a lot sooner. It then gets to a point where you feel it during the day as well. One thing you can do when you exercise is to put icy hot or some other warming substance on your calfs before you exercise. This will not help any heeling but it will warm up your calfs and allow you to exercise a little more without any futher damage."

Much appreciated!

I also received this from another cousin of mine:

Picture a rubber band with a small section that has lost its elasticity, and instead has become hardened and rather brittle. That's what a trigger point [TP] is like: the muscle is tighter, stiffer, will often be weaker and yet very tense at the same time. A TP will be sore when you push on it, and you may feel a thick band that you can flick over with your fingers.

Vast numbers of sport injuries have their origin in a TP in the muscle or fascia. This TP is very commonly the first sign of overload, and it leads to inflammation, then pain, then weakness, then joint and nerve dysfunction, and finally structural breakdown of tissues and a severe sports injury that can keep you out of action for weeks, months or even years, depending on how long you attempt to struggle on without treating the original TP.

A TP is thus an alarm bell - a first warning sign that things are not well within your biomechanical system. Often athletes, with their enhanced overall body sense, become aware of TPs before they are significant enough to cause actual pain, when the only complaint is 'tightness' or the joint or muscle doesn't 'feel right'.

Arguably, all sports people will develop TPs at some stage in their sporting career. TP’s can hamper performance and slow athletes down for a while, and they may blow out to cause a severe injury. They are a normal part of training and competing because bodies are biomechanically imperfect, and environments more random than we would like them to be.

To all intents and purposes, a TP is simply a thick knot in the muscle - a way the muscle reacts to being overloaded. In some ways a TP is the equivalent of a stress fracture in a bone. More specifically, a TP is a palpable, tender, nodal point of muscle or fascia. It may also be found in skin, where scar tissue is present, in old ligament injuries or, occasionally, in periosteum (the lining of bone). Under a microscope, TPs appear darker, straightened out and thicker, ranging in diameter from 1-4mm. If located in muscle, they cause it to form taut bands or become 'ropey'. A focal area of inflammation develops fairly early on and a collagen matrix forms; scar tissue is laid down to bridge the weak link, and can become quite thickened and tough, depending on how long it has been present.

The muscle in which a TP is found is weakened and shortened. The muscle - or the part containing the TP - is commonly in a state of involuntary tension, or increased 'tone'. The muscle is therefore unable to fully stretch OR contract, increasing its vulnerability to injury in face of further training overuse. In worst cases, a continuous muscle spasm will present around a very nasty and inflamed TP, resulting in severe cramping.

Painful cramping in the Gastrocnemius or Soleus muscles often has its origins in Trigger Points found either in these muscles or in: the Gluteus Minimus, Semitendinosus/Semimembranosus in the posterior thigh, or the Flexor Digitorum Longus, Tibialis Posterior, or Plantaris muscles in the lower leg. Runners commonly develop trigger points in these muscles, which, unrelieved, can then refer a wicked pain into muscles that are a long way from their actual origin.

Neuromuscular massage-therapists are trained to locate and treat such Trigger Points in their routine practice, restoring pain-free integrity and power to all affected muscles.

I appreciate all the words of advice and encouragement!