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Calf pain often comes from a calf strain, which basically means you have torn calf muscle fibers in the lower leg. A calf strain can be mild to severe and will cause various levels of calf pain.

These stretches and exercises for should help relieve the pain.

You can do calf stretches sitting on the floor or standing up. When you are on the floor you can stretch it with a strap, and standing you can do several ways including a runner’s stretch. You can also stretch the soleus muscle, which sits under the calf or gastroc muscle. It’s important to stretch this muscle as well.

While you are on the floor, you can strengthen your calf muscle with a resistive band. Pushing your foot into plantarflexion will help activate and strengthen the calf.

It’s also important to strengthen your glutes and whole leg. When you have a calf strain, it can affect other muscles in the area. Doing a sidelying hip abduction is a great strengthening exercise for this.

Some great simple strengthening exercises in standing are calf raises, and calf eccentric lowers. This helps the muscle heal and strengthen. Balancing on one foot is also a great way to do this.

Some higher level exercises that you might not be ready for in the beginning are squats with a heel raise and “sneaky” lunges on your toes. These require a lot of balance and strength, so don’t try them until you are ready.

Related Videos:

Calf Strengthening Exercises

Calf Stretch Standing – Runner’s Stretch