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It has been my experience, while working with hundreds of athletes, that it is
soleus that will cause you greatest amount of trouble. This may happen because everyone stretches gastroc, and not soleus. Stretching properly can help you to prevent painful experience of a cramp while you are running...but here you are, on side of road, ready to scream out in pain. What to do now!
To begin with, DO NOT try to stretch it out until you help muscle complete it's severe contraction. This may seem like exact opposite thing to do, but let's talk about logic of body.
When your muscle goes into a severe crapm, sometimes called a "charlie horse", muscle is trying to contract violently. Muscles will never stop a contraction in middle, it has an "all or nothing" system. A muscle fiber contracts fully, or not at all. If you try to stretch it out, while muscle is trying to contract, you will tear fibers. You need to assist muscle in its contraction BEFORE you can stretch it without injury.
When muscle goes into this cramp, tightly grab your calf with your hands: one hand at top of calf, just below knee; and other hand at bottom of muscle, at top of achilles tendon just above ankle. Now, help muscle complete it's contraction by pushing your hands together. This will be extremely painful, but only for a few seconds. Next, just release your hands, and then replace them in same positions. Now, again push your hands together, this time it won't hurt nearly as much. You are now assisting any last fibers to finish their contraction. Take a few breathes, get back your oxygen that was lost while you were breathing heavily during pain.
Now you can safely stretch muscle. Begin by rubbing muscle with arnica gel and then squeezing your calf, like you were squeezing bread dough. I always recommend to my athletes that they have a tube of arnica gel in their pouches. Arnica gel can be bought in any good health food store, and is a homeopathic remedy for bruised muscles. It is amazing how quickly arnica gel will help muscle heal.
After you have put on arnica gel, and quickly squeezed muscle (which brings blood into area and also helps to heal muscle), go into gastroc and soleus stretches. I've had runners tell me that since they have begun using arnica gel during, and after, race that they have a much faster healing process than ever before.
A muscle cramp, which is a severe spasm, can certainly stop you in your tracks, and not treating it properly at time will mean you will limp for remainder of race, not only having a negative impact on your time, but on your muscles health. The few minutes you will lose in your training time, or in race, to do these treatments will be rewarded by minimal damage that has been done to muscle fibers.
Julie Donnelly, BS, LMT, is the Therapeutic Director of Julstro Muscular Therapy Center and The Carpal Tunnel Treatment Center, in New City, NY. She has worked with athletes for over 14 years, and specializes in chronic joint pain. Her website: www.aboutcts.com has interesting information about how muscles cause joint pain. She may be contact at: julie@aboutcts.com
