Debilitating Calf Pumps / Shin Splints

Two weeks ago I Started getting crippling lower calf pumps and shin splints on the side of my lower shin / calf. Cardio has become a disaster and even just walking around the house if I walk for too long doing housework it kicks in. For cardio 5-10 mins in I am limping. Only doing low impact walking once in a.m and once in p.m

Also training calves 2x per week with 5 sets of 20 standing calf raises (bodyweight).

This is the trouble shooting I have done so far:

- Was doing 10-15 mins of jump rope after my walk. Eliminated that incase impact was causing issues.

- Reduced to training calves once per week.

- Was on Amitriptyline as a sleep aid. Discontinued use few days ago.

- Added 3 bananas per day to diet (read Potassium is suppose to help)

- Added 1L of water to diet

- Started with 2g of Taurine per meal and went up to 9g with zero success.

- Added stretching pre and post cardio

- Stopped pinning calves for test

- Stopped ephedrine and caffeine


Currently on:

150mg Test / week
1000IU HCG / week
1mg HGH per day - at my second month of use
90-150mg Codeine
3000mg Vit C
1000mg Calcium
500mg Magnesium
4000IU Vit D
2250mg Glucosamine Sulfate
5g Creatine Monohydrate

Right side is about an 8 on 1-10 scale and left side is 4.

At a loss what could be causing issues. Last step is to go see my physio - been trying to avoid the $100 visit. Considered also massage. Anyone have any ideas / suggestions ?

Are they sore/tight all of the time or just cramp up with excessive use?

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Originally Posted by KittyO1

Are they sore/tight all of the time or just cramp up with excessive use?

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Only during cardio and extended periods of walking.

Hmm... maybe try foam rolling them or have someone take a rolling pin or bottle to them. Keep stretching as often as possible. You could maybe take a week or so off calf training if the rolling doesn’t help. As for the calf training, any reason you only do body weight?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KittyO1

Hmm... maybe try foam rolling them or have someone take a rolling pin or bottle to them. Keep stretching as often as possible. You could maybe take a week or so off calf training if the rolling doesn’t help. As for the calf training, any reason you only do body weight?

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I have a foam roller so I shall give that a try thanks.

Body weight exercises is the direction from physio + specialist for everything lower body until further notice. Recovering from a car accident.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Windex

I have a foam roller so I shall give that a try thanks.

Body weight exercises is the direction from physio + specialist for everything lower body until further notice. Recovering from a car accident.

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Ahh ok! Well, hopefully recovery is going well! Let me know if the rolling helps.




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Foam rolling has helped a bit. Going to get my girl to massage the legs as well to see if that helps..I noticed my shoes are on their last leg (no pun intended) so that might have something to do with it. Switched to thicker socks and that has also helped too.. It's been very cold+wet and didn't notice that the trails have hardened up quite a bit so perhaps the combination of the tougher terrain + shoes coming to an end is putting enough extra tension on my ankles/calves. Normally once fall/winter hits I switch from trail running sneakers to hiking boots.

It sounds like chronic compartment syndrome or popliteal artery entrapment... Probably the former but you need to exclude the latter to confirm the diagnosis.

Read up on ccs, don't confuse it with acute compartment syndrome.

It can be treated with inserts in your footwear, my sports doctor who works with the British Olympic athletes claims he has a 80% success rate of helping people avoid surgery

The car injury could certainly have triggered ccs too

I'll look it up thanks. Wouldn't it be strange though to have kicked in 2 years post-injury ?

Not necessarily, it could have caused mild trauma to the fascia and then the pumps/weight lifting continued it.

Have you read anything? it does seem to fit to me. Another thing to try is some compression socks of your calves, other than that the only thing that stops it for me is rest.

I used to get debilitating pumps in my shin splints when I was on Anavar. At 150mg/wk of Test, I'm assuming you're on TRT. I've also gotten cramps when I first started creatine and didn't drink enough water. Good luck

I am on TRT. Thanks for the insight. Haven't had a chance to read yet but the calves are back to 100% - bit of a mystery to me, perhaps a combination of everything got it back to regular.