Calf muscles consist of two muscles called gastrocnemius and soleus. They work together to control leg movement and maintain balance while doing activities such as walking.   

From illnesses to overexertion of muscles, a number of reasons contribute to tight calves. When the flexibility of the calf muscles reduces, your muscles start aching while performing certain physical activities.  

What Does Tight Calves Feel Like? 

The symptoms of tight calves can vary from slight discomfort to severe pain. The muscles may feel hard and tight when you touch them. These symptoms might follow after muscle cramps or strenuous exercises.  

Other symptoms may include muscle twitching, sudden pain in the back of your calf or behind the knees and swelling or bruising around the affected area. 

What Causes Tight Calves?  

Tight calf muscle pain is felt as a result of muscle overuse. This is common among endurance athletes such as marathon runners. If you have just started an exercise program or perhaps, if you are not , using proper techniques you’ll experience tight calves.  

How To Relieve Tight Muscles in Calf?   

Stretching 

If you experience tight calves, try daily stretching exercises until the symptoms subside. Stretching exercises  loosen the calf muscles while improving blood circulation and flexibility. It’s recommended to do stretching exercises twice a day. You will feel a slight discomfort in the muscles when you are performing stretching exercises if you have tight muscles, but its best not to  push yourself too hard.  

There are many easy stretching exercises for calf muscles. Try this simple one -  

• Stand facing a wall, one leg in front of the other, and the front knee slightly bent.  
• Keep your back knee straight and heels flat on the ground. 
• Lean forward to the wall and feel the leg muscle stretch as you do so.  
• Hold this position for 20-30 seconds and release.  
• Switch the legs and perform the same.  
• Repeat 4-5 times for one session. 

RICE

RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. This is how you treat your muscles in the first 2-3 days after the injury. You need to get plenty of rest, especially to keep the affected muscles from exerting themselves even further. Apply an ice pack to the affected area for about 20 minutes every 2 hours. Next, apply compression; that means you need to bandage the limb to reduce swelling and pain and keep them slightly elevated.  

• Over-the-counter medications 

You can get some over-the-counter medications to reduce inflammation and relieve pain. Talk to the pharmacist to find what’s best for your condition. 

• Physical therapy 

You don’t need physical therapy for temporary tight calves that happen after a workout.  However if you have chronic tight muscles you need to find the cause and rehabilitate the muscles. Talk to your doctor if you experience persistent tightness in the muscles.  

• Massage therapy 

Massage therapy is a good option if you are an athlete or on a strenuous workout routine. A massage therapist applies controlled pressure on your muscles to reduce tension, improve blood circulation, remove muscle knots and so on.  

• Use Active Compression tools 

 Active compression tools are specially designed to apply rhythmic compression on affected muscles. They will reduce the swelling and inflammation of the muscles and help the calf muscle recovery process. 

There are a lot of active compression tools on the market. If you are a professional athlete, a gym enthusiast or someone with tight calf muscles, invest in an active compression tool. Find out how calf massagers work here. 

Consider the efficacy, affordability and usability of the device before you buy an active compression tool. SPRYNG is the best recovery tool you’ll find today. It’s a portable device that you can wear any time while you’re going about your usual activities. The device contains an innovative, patent-pending wavetec™ graduated compression pattern that prevents leg swelling and improves blood circulation. SPRYNG will reduce swelling and pain in your  muscles easily in 15 minutes  and speed up the recovery process.