My torn calf muscle experience. ( 4 days in )

Hello
I am a 36-year-old male in good shape, very active ( I play soccer and do Mixed martial arts MMA ) about 6 days out of the week. I am a chef/ restaurant owner, father of four very active children and on Sunday, October 3, 2010, I tore my left calf ( Gastroc ) muscle playing soccer. 

Let me take you to 3 weeks ago so you don't make the same mistakes I did. I was playing soccer and felt a "tweak" in my upper Achilles region of my left leg. I thought i had just tweaked my Achilles and knowing how severe an Achilles tear would be I stopped playing. Went to my Orthopedic and he prescribed physical therapy. I did that for two weeks and felt great. Since I am very impatient when it comes to healing and " getting back out there " I tried to see how a light jog would feel and I did great. So the next Sunday I went to play soccer ( DUMBASS!!!! That's what I've changed my name to since the injury )

On a sprint, pushing off I felt like someone threw a rock at my left calf. In that split second that I was thinking " who the hell threw a rock at me from the sidelines" the pain set in and I knew exactly what happened. I just dropped like I was hit by a sniper. I actually thought at first that I had torn my Achilles tendon!! I called myself every name in the book!!! Thinking to myself " I couldn't even give myself two to three weeks to heal " there is no way I can be out a year  ( Which is what people with an Achilles injury say it takes to get back into playing sports ). So I was carried off the field ( No, not like Rudiger in the movie RUDY. More like the idiot who thought he was playing the world cup and couldn't wait two more weeks to heal properly and couldn't miss another game ) to my car and I drove myself to the ER. 

They said there that they thought that my Achilles was intact but that I had torn my Gastroc muscle which is apparently the largest muscle in the calf. I can vouch for that because it hurt like it was the largest muscle! After the ER I saw my friend the Orthopedic who confirmed the injury and my new name. Yes, he called me a DUMBASS. Since I am so active I pretty much have an easy pass to get into his office and my Physical therapist's office. They say the two most important numbers you should know are your lawyer's number and your accountant's. Well, I have long ago added to my Orthopedic's and my physical therapist's number to that important list. You see, when I can't work out, play soccer or train MMA I become a BEAR. like my wife says. I'm like barbed wire. Not very nice to be around. At work, I become Gordon Ramsey's evil twin. It is hard enough work to run a restaurant and be a chef in general on the cooking line and with the injury, well let's just say that everyone around me is praying for my speedy recovery. Ok, let's proceed. Since I went home and saw the Ortho he put me on R.I.C.E ( Rest, ice, compression, elevation ), Ibuprofen and Percocet which I do not take. He told me to keep weight off of it as long as I can and keep it elevated as long as I can. Ice it 20 on 20 off. He had me put in an air cast with a 1/2 " heel lift which I totally recommend and crutches. I only feel pain when the injured muscle is asked to " fire" or contract. I sleep with my leg elevated as well and I will see my doctor again on Tuesday, Oct 12. I had this injury on the top of my calf, behind the RIGHT knee about 5 years ago. It wasn't as serious as this one but I can tell you it took like 10 to 12 weeks before I was comfortable trying to jog. I don't mean to scare anyone but if you try to do anything sooner YOU WILL TEAR IT AGAIN! Oh, and it will set you back on your recovery BIGTIME. Physical therapy always helps me in a huge way in healing properly and getting back out there with no setbacks. In fact, this time I didn't listen to my PT and I am paying dearly for the consequences of my DUMBASSEDNESS. There I just made up a new word. I have been searching the entire World Wide Web and saw almost nothing like this post so that's why I wanted to create a space for us to cope and get through this.
This is what I did for my previous calf injury and it worked great for me and had no re-injury of the right calf so here it is.

1) R.I.C.E (Rest-Ice-Compression-Elevation)

2) Ibuprophen ( Advil/Motrin )

3) Muscle relaxant like a Naproxen. ( I suggest a muscle relaxant more than a Percocet) After this injury, you get "aftershocks" like after an earthquake. You or I at least get these muscle twitches of the injured muscle that don't feel too good. I think the Naproxen has helped greatly to prevent these twitches.

4) Give your body the right fuel it needs to heal. DO NOT EAT greasy fast foods. Try to eat whole foods. Not too much processed foods in other words.

5) Up your protein intake. I usually take 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight when I am active. For the injury, I even up it to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight. Just try to take no more than 30/40 grams per serving/sitting. Your body can only assimilate so much especially if you are not really being that active. ( Your protein should come from fish, white meat and maybe tofu etc if you are a vegetarian. Another source that also works great for me in between meals is a good quality Protein shake/ powder. I do one serving of the protein in a blender with ice, my amino acids and a  tbspn of reduced fat peanut butter.

6) Take a branched chain amino acid supplement. ( Over and above what might already come in your protein shake) You can get a fairly inexpensive one at GNC. I prefer a liquid form. Easily mixes in my protein shake and I think it is absorbed better and faster by the body.

7) Get enough sleep. The only time your body is in total rest and recovery, rebuilding, repair mode or whatever you want to call it is when you are sleeping.
8) If you're not already doing so, take a good quality multivitamin on a daily basis already!!! No, Centrum is not one I recommend. You need one that is more bioavailable. ( Used better by the body ) If you take a multivitamin look at your urine. I believe ( and again I am not a doctor but the past 20 or so years have read anything I can on proper sports nutrition so take it with a grain of salt) that the more highlighter color (bright yellow) your urine is the less bioavailable your vitamin is. This means that you are literally pissing your money away. Again you need to go to a GNC type store, not the supermarket and spend maybe a touch more money than you would on centrum but your body, overall health and healing injury WILL benefit tremendously from it.

9) Your muscle should not be touched for the first 4 days I believe but as of tomorrow I will start very very very lightly massaging my calf to try to reduce some scar tissue that will inevitably form with this injury.
As of now, I am on day 4 like i said and see a slight bruising that will for sure get worse. Don't be scared if you see this bruising . It happened with my last calf injury and it's "normal". Also DO NOT take aspirin for at least the first week as this will thin your blood more and might worsen the bruising. ( Some people advise to actually take an aspirin to prevent blood clotting but this is something you need to check out yourself. )

10 ) You actually need to be in shape to be injured. Let me explain. Be very careful walking around on crutches. The side of your body you are now overloading with weight, twists and turns is only used to carry a portion of your weight. Now it is carrying all of it. I have soreness and tightness on my " good " side. My calf, Achilles, heel and plantar fascia ( the band of tissue that runs from the ball of your foot back behind your heel ). I have seen posts of people tearing/injuring the good side's calf, achilles etc.
So be very careful of your movements and try to use your upper body with the crutches to more evenly distribute the weight over your lower limbs.


I will keep posting through my recovery period and until at least my first soccer game or mma training session to inform anyone going through this of my progress and pretty much what to sort of expect. I hope this helps at least one person " get through this" .


Also please post any information, injury, recovery or any experience in general about this injury, any recovery tricks or secrets and what time period it took you all to " get back out there" in full force.


Thank you


DL


P.S- One more thing. If you are 30 or older there is NO SUCH THING AS A TWEAK!!
Your body is telling the DUMBASS inside you to take a couple of weeks off and let it heal properly. I didn't listen and now I turned a 3-week recovery into a 12 to 16-week recovery. :-((