Sore calves ??

A snowHead

Just back from 4 days in Obertauern and was a bit surprised to find our whole party were getting really sore calves at night and first thing in the morning .... good intermediates and very good skiers a like. Walking to the bathroom in the morning universally produced loud grunts and groans !!

Don't remember this ever being so common before .. anyone know if it's a technique or boot thing ?? It was very hard snow the first couple of days and we spent a lot of the time on icy blacks ... we were wondering if maybe this could have somethign to do with it.

A snowHead

RichA,

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

My calves are still suffering from my first outing of the season (about a week ago). going for a sports massage tonight which will probably make me cry.
for me, i think it's just the fact that i have quite inflexible ankles/short calf muscles. i try to keep them stretched through the year but the first bit of skiing is always a shock.
would be interested in responses from any "qualified people" in case there are any magic ways to avoid this. stretching and heel lifts in my boots have made a bit of a difference in the past but only make it a bit better rather than getting rid of the pain altogether

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Uddermint. Wonderful stuff.

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My solution is to get the muscles warm (sauna, hot tub, whatever) train some water jets on them if possible (sort of low-cost massage) and then lots of stretching. And the next morning, hop out of bed, fall on floor in agony, apply Ibuprofen gel, swear a lot. Repeat ad lib.

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the confusing thing is that it can be caused by good technique and very tight calves (getting forward and stretching them after months of neglect) or weak technique (leaning back).

I have big, strong and not very flexible calves. I do try and stretch them but I'm still expecting pain when I get started. I do find it gets better after a couple of days though.
Incidently, the only way I can really pursuade my calves to stretch is to hang off a step on one foot - weight resting on the ball, heel hanging below my toes and apply my full body weight to one calf at a time for about a minute.

J

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jedster wrote

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My personal (amateur) theory is that the condition is exacerbated by high-heel wearing (you know who you are guys! Smile

). If I even mimic the position of my calves in my normal shoes and then a forward ski-stance, it's fairly obvious that the muscles will be stretched far beyond anything they are used to. I tried doing calf exercises at the gym (on the edge of steps as described above) but don't think it made much difference to be honest.

Deep Heat was no good but the Ibuprofen gel my Mam gave me (Phorpain, I think) really eased things - especially as our loo was down a couple of steps from the part of the room where the bed was so the night-time calls of nature were seriously painful.

Rebecca

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My calves were kiiling me after the first few days this season. Then luckily they seemed to loosen up and sort themselves out. I put it down to old age (just turned 40)
I'm sure there must be some stretching preparation I can do, but just can't be bothered. I do lots of mountain biking too, so my legs are strong. But obviously this doesn't help for this problem.

snow reports

jedster, all very familiar to me! i actually bailed out of the lift queue on the second day of my most recent trip and went to get physio on my calves! a couple of interesting things came out of this:

1. the physio said the problem wasn't just my calf muscles - it was also a lack of flexibility across the front of the ankle. she reckoned this exacerbated the stress on the calves.

2. she gave me a new stretch - you put one foot perpendicular to a wall (just use other foot for balance) then try to touch your knee against the wall without lifting your heel. you move your foot further from the wall to get more of a stretch. don't go so far that it hurts. she reckoned that this would help the whole ankle joint (not sure why but prepared to take her word on it). The good thing for me about this one is that it is measurable - i could never tell whether i was getting more flexible or not with the other stretches i was doing

You know it makes sense.

RichA, Could you be dehydrated - you need to drink more water than usual at altitude, & I've found if I get sore legs its usually because I havent drunk enough.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

geri, when I get sore legs it is normally becasue I have drunk too much Very Happy

and fallen over Little Angel

A snowHead

CEM's website has some very good and simple strengthening and stretching exercises. I do a lot of Pilates, so am fairly alive to this sort of thing, but I downloaded them nonetheless, they're great. See here.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

RichA, before i start i am no pro but i had a similar problem that was resolved by a pro. At the start of the season after the first few days I also could not get down stairs without cursing. As in your case the problem seemed worse if I spent those first few days on hard snow. I am fit, have calves of steel and no problems with ankle flexion. I mentioned this to a guide I was skiing with who told me to stop trying to grip the snow with my toes by concentrating on pulling the toes up. He explained that when you have not been skiing for a while you ‘forget’ to pressurise the ski with your whole foot (sole), putting a lot of pressure on the ball of your foot almost as if your trying to stand on your toes. I took his advice and have not had this problem since. To find my balance I also ski the first half a day or so with all my buckles undone.

Help!!

Sore calves ??

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