As someone who loves to be active, I had a recent injury that I thought would prevent me form doing the movements I love for a number of weeks. Thankfully this wasn't the case.
I want to share with you a Postural Therapy perspective of WHY I strained my calf and how the two stretches I did made a profound, positive difference in enabling me to feel much better. I hope you can use these insights to understand any musculoskeletal issues you might be experiencing.
Over the last few weeks of summer, with the weather beautiful in NYC and many clients traveling, I had motivation and time to increase my activity level. This included going for longer runs in Central Park and the Rockefeller Nature Preserve, as well as functional exercises to posturally strengthen my body. One such exercise is holding two 35 lbs. kettlebells and walking forwards and backwards.
This all felt amazing, though the combination of running and Kettlebell walks created tension in my calves. Last week, I was taking a walk in Central Park. There's a steep uphill in the North Woods which is a literal hike. At the end of it, my right calf felt very tight. Luckily, the was a rock right there in which I placed my right foot on and leaned forward, stretching the area, which felt great.....
.....at least for a moment. As I subsequently began to walk, my right calf seized up. It was the type of strain that was going to prevent me from walking comfortably for days, if not weeks. I had to think creatively and apply the tools for myself that I use to help others in pain. Understanding WHAT to do required evaluating WHY I developed the injury.
Why did my calf strain?
Coined by Tom Myers and others, the body doesn't necessarily function using muscles in isolation, rather as a whole. We have lines of muscles and bones linked through connective tissue (Myofascial Lines). These lines pull the body in distinct directions. When working as designed, the brain will tell the body to engage the Anti-Gravity Kinetic Chain (AGKC - the deep Postural line coined by Dr. Andrew Buser) to stabilize the bones and let the superficial lines of muscles work around a stable platform. If the AGKC isn't strong (as in most cases) or fatigues the superficial lines will fire out of sync, pulling the bones out of position, creating overuse in other muscles.
I likely was overusing my Superficial Back Line (SBC - picture on left below) beyond my capacity of the AGKC to support it. The Calf muscles and plantarfascia are part of this line. The steep uphill was the tipping point to create the imbalance and strain in my right calf.
What were the two exercises that helped me?
I knew that directly stretching my calves would only increase the strain. The first thing I did was a deep squat for a minute. This challenged my body is full range of motion, which strengthened my AGKC while concurrently stretching my SBC. The body is designed to work in full range of motion (kids do it!) to be as functional and healthy as possible. The second thing I did was hang from standing and allowed my upper body to dangle towards the floor. This further stretched my SBC while aligning ankle-knee-hip with keeping my foot in place. Thankfully this combination allowed my calf muscle to relax and feel much better.
My objective for you in relaying this is not to do these two exercise yourself, rather to guide you in thinking more critically about WHY you might have your pain, injury, or movement restrictions by understanding a model:
Put the bones in the right place
Keeping them there with specific muscles (AGKC)
Once you understand the WHY, then you can implement the WHAT.....whether that's specific exercises/stretches to reset this mechanism as I did, or another modality you've found to be helpful.
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