There are certain portions of the body which can sometimes be more prone to strains than others. One example involves the lower legs; particularly the calf muscles and the Achilles tendon. While often resulting from a sports injury, the fact of the matter is that some incidents can occur from simple everyday issues such as wearing the wrong pair of shoes or slipping on ice. In order to understand how common these incidents can be, let us first examine some primary causes before moving on to discuss how our rehabilitation team can help.
Lower Leg Injuries at a Glance
There are many times when physical trauma (such as a blunt force impact) can cause temporary contusions and bruising around the calf muscle and/or ankle. This often occurs when playing contact sports. However, other injuries are more chronic in nature. In terms of the calf, these include:
- Walking or running with an incorrect gait.
- Constantly impacting hard surfaces such as concrete.
- Overtraining the calf muscles; resulting in a muscle pull or even a tear.
The Achilles tendons are obviously vulnerable due to the simple fact that they are designed to support most of the weight of your body. Some of the ways in which you can injure this tendon may be:
- Slipping on a rough or uneven surface.
- Repetitive strain (known as Achilles tendonitis).
- Overly tight calf muscles.
- Flat feet (feet without the proper arch).
Either way, these problems should be addressed sooner as opposed to later.
Common Symptoms
Pain, tenderness and swelling are common symptoms that an injury is present. In terms of an acute injury, you might even notice discolouration around the affected area. Sudden impacts or simply twisting an ankle will often result in reduced mobility or extreme discomfort when walking.
How Can Our Clinic Help?
West Berkshire Injury Clinic will first analyse your unique symptoms in order to get to the root of the issue. We may also use proactive techniques such as a soft tissue massage. This can help to increase blood flow, to moderate pain and to promote a greater degree of mobility. On occasion, we could even recommend a gait analysis if the issue seems to be chronic in nature.
Above all, be sure to book an appointment with one of our specialists. We are pleased to serve Newbury, Hungerford and nearby locations.
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