Calf Pain and Charlie Horse When Running More Than 10 Minutes.

by Jim
(California)

I'm 38. 5'10" 175 lbs. I started working out again a couple of months ago. Running for more than 10 minutes is proving to be nearly impossible.

After 10 minutes on the treadmill one of my calves will develop what I can best describe as a charlie horse. The pain sets in over the course of 10 seconds or so. The pain will last 2-3 days. Pain also migrates to different locations in my calves. Both legs are affected.

My Doctor is clueless, and he refuses to send me to a specialist. He did rule out peripheral artery disease, which I brought to his attention because I smoked and drank a lot when I was younger. In the end he just blamed it on “getting older” or my “running style”.

I haven’t run for a couple of weeks, but my calves are still painful. Walking up and down stairs, or just walking on level ground is painful. The pain isn’t severe though. There is a tender spot on the upper/outside of both calves, and currently my left leg is worse.

Only jogging and running bring on the severe pain. Elliptical, and bike don’t cause any problems. I going to be entering the military within a few months, so I need to get this cleared up asap.

I used neoprene sleeves a couple of times. My calves seemed fine, but then the pain seemed to migrate to the back of my knees. It’s as if there’s some kind of internal pressure that wants to be released, and it will find a way out, no matter what.

One more thing...my calves seem very stiff in the morning. Also the pain is worse in the morning and seems to dissipate as the day goes on. It never fully disappears though.

This is starting to look like a chronic issue.

Any advice you have would be appreciated.

Jim



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Joshua Answers:

Hi Jim.

Hmmm.

They let 38 year olds into the military?

Bootcamp?

So....assuming that you don't have a blood clot or something medical...


1. Rub your calves for a minute. Are they tight, loose, tender, painful. All over, or in specific spots, or? Details, details, details.

2. Does it feel like they go into a cramp when you're running? Or just spasm? Trying to get a feel for what you are describing. When muscles cramp, they can leave you sore for days. Which sounds like what you said.

3. You drank and smoke a lot (Have fun at bootcamp! :), what does your nutritional intake look like now/lately/historically?

4. How tall/heavy are you?


It doesn't sound like Achilles Tendonitis, but there's a definitely a Pain Causing Dynamic.

Which means things have been getting tighter and tighter and more and more painful (whether you feel it or not).

Somethings not working right, which accounts for running with a sudden painful stop.

My first thought is that you should cover the Magnesium base (as in, cover all the bases). See Magnesium for Tendonitis.

Make sure to follow the Magnesium Dosage link at the bottom of that page, and do what it says. Probably should get some Transdermal Magnesium Gel while you're at it, and take a couple hot Epsom Salt Baths a day for a week, to get as much Magnesium into your system as possible.

Make sure you're hydrated with good water, and some bananas for potassium couldn't hurt at all.

It could be you're just Magnesium deficient. Rule that out, and go from there.

You might want to drop $20 on my Reversing Achilles Tendonitis ebook.

It'll show you how to deal with the back of your lower leg, which I suspect you'll need to do now or later.

Magnesium first and foremost.

More questions, more answers.

And answer my questions above.



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Joshua Tucker, B.A., C.M.T.
The Tendonitis Expert
www.TendonitisExpert.com