Calf Update & I Need Some Advice

Last Friday, I went to a see a sports medicine doctor about my calves. I was going to go in April when I have spring break, but Elizabeth suitably freaked me out and convinced me to move the appointment up.

Dr. Cintron took a very detailed history - I was glad I have a blog because I was able to pinpoint when the pain started and how it progressed over time. She palpated my calves and had me do a few stretches, none of which hurt. My calves only hurt after certain exercises or while running.

Sometimes they are tight early in a run and then loosen up 30 minutes in; sometimes they feel fine and then get tight a mile in.

She was skeptical that I have a strain or tear in both calves, but ordered an MRI anyway, which I will have this Friday. My followup with her is Monday afternoon. I hate that this is an ordeal; I wish it could just be diagnosed and over with.

In the meantime, no running or high-impact exercise. (What am I supposed to do for cardio?!) I'm on a regimen of taking Naproxen twice daily to combat any inflammation I may have. Before I left, the nurse set me up with some ice and TENS therapy (she was glad to hear I have a TENS unit and was using it at home) and then gave me a massage with Biofreeze.

I hate icing. SO COLD.

She also printed out some stretches for me to do with explicit instructions not to overstretch. I'm very inflexible so I'm totally guilty of overstretching frequently, but I'm going to be good!

So, that's the deal for now. I'm not sure if I'd rather get definitive answers from the MRI (which would mean bilateral strains/tears somehow) or not. No strain would mean possibly a less serious issue, but it could mean compartment syndrome, which Dr. Cintron did not rule out.

I wish I could run just to test the pain and be sure it's still there; I've been resting so long I'm starting to doubt my own memory! But maybe if the MRI is negative, she'll stick me on a treadmill to get some results.

Any advice for getting some cardio while I'm avoiding high-impact exercise?

ABK