fed-forever
New User
Hey everyone,
I’m a recent victim of the dreaded Tennis Leg. I spent the first week after the injury devouring as many threads on this topic as possible. They were immensely informative and hope-inspiring, so I thought I’d return the favor and share my experience. I’m happy to report that 4 weeks later, I feel like I'm pretty much fully recovered.
For context, I’m 32 and male. I’m physically quite active (lift weights 4-5 times/week, cardio 1-2 times/week, tennis anywhere from 1-4 times/week). All this to say that I did NOT expect this injury to happen to me given how active I am (although it probably happened from overuse, more on that below).
I had the classic presentation. I was playing doubles match, serving at deuce at 5-4. As a result, not having played matches in a while, I was tight. Immediately after I hit the serve and landed on my right foot (I’m a lefty), I thought I had hit the back of my right leg with my tennis racket. I turned around and searched for the mark where my tennis racket would have hit my leg, but, alas, there was none. (Also, given the trajectory of the service motion, it wouldn’t make sense for my racket to hit the back of my leg). The initial pain was not all that bad—my calf felt tight and I tried to walk it off and stretch it out, but after a few minutes I realized I could no longer continue the match. I was still able to walk, and I continued to stretch it afterward for several minutes, which in retrospect was a terrible idea, as this is literally pulling the torn ends of the muscle further apart, but at the time I thought I was just cramping up really bad.
I should also mention that earlier that day, prior to playing tennis, I had lifted legs, which included calf raises. Playing tennis after a leg workout is not the smartest idea, but in my defense, I didn’t know I was playing tennis until after I had finished the lift (and I couldn’t say no to tennis, you know?). So I’d cite the reason of this injury as a combination of having lifted calves earlier in the day and being tight during the match. But I didn’t feel any soreness in my calves preceding the injury, and this injury happened an hour or so into playing, so I was sufficiently warm.
I never went to see a doctor or a physical therapist (more on that later), but I self-diagnosed myself with a grade 2 gastrocnemius strain.
I kept a daily log of my recovery, which I’ve summarized below. It’s pretty detailed, but again, I hope this can serve as a guide for anyone who sustains a similar type and severity of injury.
Day of injury: Pain is a 6-7 at rest with some swelling. I wrapped my calf in ACE wrap and called it a night. I ended up not taking any NSAIDs at all during the recovery because the pain and swelling improved over the following days.
Day 1: Pain is like a 3-4 at rest. I spent most of the day following RICE protocol, with the exception of taking a few steps here and there just to move around a bit, but as expected my leg wouldn’t tolerate any weight.
You might be wondering if I went to see a doctor or PT. My friend who’s an orthopedic surgeon recommended I rule out an Achilles tear at the least. Although I was initially concerned about an Achilles tear, I think I was able to rule it out based on 3 things:
Day 2: No pain at rest and improved range of motion with dorsiflexion/plantar flexion. I continued RICE protocol, but I did start ambulating on my injured foot. I made sure to limp in such a way that I felt no pain whatsoever. I probably should have used crutches but I didn’t have any. I even went to the gym to lift upper body.
Day 3: I am getting by with limping, but I’m not able to push off with my right foot when I walk.
Day 4: I can limp faster but still can’t push off with my right foot to achieve a normal gait.
Day 5: I can limp like a pro. Still can’t push off with that right foot when I walk. I went to the gym and rode the exercise bike and went to the sauna, both of which felt good.
Day 6: I am still limping, but I can lightly and minimally push off with the right foot when I walk. I tried doing standing calf raises on both feet, but I had to keep most of the weight on my good foot. I also felt a small, tender lump over the medial aspect of my calf when massaging it – my guess is that this is scar tissue that is forming at the site of injury. I massaged this pretty aggressively in the sauna, which felt good.
Day 7: I can push off more with that right foot when I walk. If I walk really slowly with small steps, I can walk with pretty much a normal gait. But at normal speed, there is still an obvious limp. I even did back squats at the gym without feeling pain.
Day 10: I can tip-toe on my right foot for some time before lowering. I still have some focal tenderness to the medial aspect of my calf where I’m guessing the injury was.
Day 11: If I try walking normally, I’ll feel it for sure in my lower calf/Achilles region, but it’s not a sharp pain. I certainly can’t walk briskly, but I can walk at just under a normal pace, for short periods of time. I can also do a standing single leg right calf raise, though that is somewhat painful.
Day 12: I can walk normally at a slightly slower pace than normal. There’s no pain, rather I “feel it.” I find that stretching out the calf right before walking and taking the first few steps very slowly is helpful.
Day 13. Walking normally. No pain, but I feel the muscle/tendon being worked. I did do standing single leg right calf raises, 3 sets of 10. No frank pain but the muscle was working/a little bit of pain. Still feel it when walking uphill.
Day 14: Like clockwork, at the 2-week mark, I’m walking normally without any pain. I feel the muscle working but no pain. I walked around the block this morning, and on an uphill stretch I started to feel some tightness in the calf but that promptly subsided after returning to level ground. And on another uphill stretch I did not experience that tightness/pain. Went to gym and walked for 25 min on incline treadmill at 12% grade. No pain whatsoever (just felt the muscle working).
Day 15: I feel some soreness/aching in my upper calf while walking - perhaps from incline walking on treadmill the day prior? Also I’m able to go down stairs - I felt a little more sharp soreness but nothing crazy.
Day 16: Walking stone cold normally but upper calf is sore. Did a super brief jog - definitely felt it in the Achilles region.
Day 17: Did single leg right calf hops and felt it in Achilles region. Did lightweight single leg right calf raises, felt pain/pulling in Achilles region. Unweighted seated calf raises are very difficult - not a sharp pain but the muscles are working hard.
Day 20: No pain when walking fast. Can do single leg right leg hops for 40-50 seconds before having pain in the Achilles region. When doing single leg right vertical jumps, definitely felt it in Achilles region. Did very light weight right seated and standing calf raises.
Day 21: 3 weeks post injury and I played tennis. It was a very light hit and I did not run for balls, but toward the end I felt it in my right Achilles region while bouncing on my toes.
Day 27: Did incline treadmill sprints – no pain, just felt the slightest soreness in my Achilles region.
As of this post, I'm 29 days out, and I'll share my takeaways below:
I’m a recent victim of the dreaded Tennis Leg. I spent the first week after the injury devouring as many threads on this topic as possible. They were immensely informative and hope-inspiring, so I thought I’d return the favor and share my experience. I’m happy to report that 4 weeks later, I feel like I'm pretty much fully recovered.
For context, I’m 32 and male. I’m physically quite active (lift weights 4-5 times/week, cardio 1-2 times/week, tennis anywhere from 1-4 times/week). All this to say that I did NOT expect this injury to happen to me given how active I am (although it probably happened from overuse, more on that below).
I had the classic presentation. I was playing doubles match, serving at deuce at 5-4. As a result, not having played matches in a while, I was tight. Immediately after I hit the serve and landed on my right foot (I’m a lefty), I thought I had hit the back of my right leg with my tennis racket. I turned around and searched for the mark where my tennis racket would have hit my leg, but, alas, there was none. (Also, given the trajectory of the service motion, it wouldn’t make sense for my racket to hit the back of my leg). The initial pain was not all that bad—my calf felt tight and I tried to walk it off and stretch it out, but after a few minutes I realized I could no longer continue the match. I was still able to walk, and I continued to stretch it afterward for several minutes, which in retrospect was a terrible idea, as this is literally pulling the torn ends of the muscle further apart, but at the time I thought I was just cramping up really bad.
I should also mention that earlier that day, prior to playing tennis, I had lifted legs, which included calf raises. Playing tennis after a leg workout is not the smartest idea, but in my defense, I didn’t know I was playing tennis until after I had finished the lift (and I couldn’t say no to tennis, you know?). So I’d cite the reason of this injury as a combination of having lifted calves earlier in the day and being tight during the match. But I didn’t feel any soreness in my calves preceding the injury, and this injury happened an hour or so into playing, so I was sufficiently warm.
I never went to see a doctor or a physical therapist (more on that later), but I self-diagnosed myself with a grade 2 gastrocnemius strain.
I kept a daily log of my recovery, which I’ve summarized below. It’s pretty detailed, but again, I hope this can serve as a guide for anyone who sustains a similar type and severity of injury.
Day of injury: Pain is a 6-7 at rest with some swelling. I wrapped my calf in ACE wrap and called it a night. I ended up not taking any NSAIDs at all during the recovery because the pain and swelling improved over the following days.
Day 1: Pain is like a 3-4 at rest. I spent most of the day following RICE protocol, with the exception of taking a few steps here and there just to move around a bit, but as expected my leg wouldn’t tolerate any weight.
You might be wondering if I went to see a doctor or PT. My friend who’s an orthopedic surgeon recommended I rule out an Achilles tear at the least. Although I was initially concerned about an Achilles tear, I think I was able to rule it out based on 3 things:
- I was able to actively plantar flex my foot (though it was quite painful initially)
- I did the Thompson test (where you squeeze your calf and the foot should plantar flex if the tendon is intact). My foot did plantar flex (though less so than my good side, maybe because of muscle edema)
- I didn’t feel a palpable defect or tenderness over my Achilles tendon - the tenderness was higher up
Day 2: No pain at rest and improved range of motion with dorsiflexion/plantar flexion. I continued RICE protocol, but I did start ambulating on my injured foot. I made sure to limp in such a way that I felt no pain whatsoever. I probably should have used crutches but I didn’t have any. I even went to the gym to lift upper body.
Day 3: I am getting by with limping, but I’m not able to push off with my right foot when I walk.
Day 4: I can limp faster but still can’t push off with my right foot to achieve a normal gait.
Day 5: I can limp like a pro. Still can’t push off with that right foot when I walk. I went to the gym and rode the exercise bike and went to the sauna, both of which felt good.
Day 6: I am still limping, but I can lightly and minimally push off with the right foot when I walk. I tried doing standing calf raises on both feet, but I had to keep most of the weight on my good foot. I also felt a small, tender lump over the medial aspect of my calf when massaging it – my guess is that this is scar tissue that is forming at the site of injury. I massaged this pretty aggressively in the sauna, which felt good.
Day 7: I can push off more with that right foot when I walk. If I walk really slowly with small steps, I can walk with pretty much a normal gait. But at normal speed, there is still an obvious limp. I even did back squats at the gym without feeling pain.
Day 10: I can tip-toe on my right foot for some time before lowering. I still have some focal tenderness to the medial aspect of my calf where I’m guessing the injury was.
Day 11: If I try walking normally, I’ll feel it for sure in my lower calf/Achilles region, but it’s not a sharp pain. I certainly can’t walk briskly, but I can walk at just under a normal pace, for short periods of time. I can also do a standing single leg right calf raise, though that is somewhat painful.
Day 12: I can walk normally at a slightly slower pace than normal. There’s no pain, rather I “feel it.” I find that stretching out the calf right before walking and taking the first few steps very slowly is helpful.
Day 13. Walking normally. No pain, but I feel the muscle/tendon being worked. I did do standing single leg right calf raises, 3 sets of 10. No frank pain but the muscle was working/a little bit of pain. Still feel it when walking uphill.
Day 14: Like clockwork, at the 2-week mark, I’m walking normally without any pain. I feel the muscle working but no pain. I walked around the block this morning, and on an uphill stretch I started to feel some tightness in the calf but that promptly subsided after returning to level ground. And on another uphill stretch I did not experience that tightness/pain. Went to gym and walked for 25 min on incline treadmill at 12% grade. No pain whatsoever (just felt the muscle working).
Day 15: I feel some soreness/aching in my upper calf while walking - perhaps from incline walking on treadmill the day prior? Also I’m able to go down stairs - I felt a little more sharp soreness but nothing crazy.
Day 16: Walking stone cold normally but upper calf is sore. Did a super brief jog - definitely felt it in the Achilles region.
Day 17: Did single leg right calf hops and felt it in Achilles region. Did lightweight single leg right calf raises, felt pain/pulling in Achilles region. Unweighted seated calf raises are very difficult - not a sharp pain but the muscles are working hard.
Day 20: No pain when walking fast. Can do single leg right leg hops for 40-50 seconds before having pain in the Achilles region. When doing single leg right vertical jumps, definitely felt it in Achilles region. Did very light weight right seated and standing calf raises.
Day 21: 3 weeks post injury and I played tennis. It was a very light hit and I did not run for balls, but toward the end I felt it in my right Achilles region while bouncing on my toes.
Day 27: Did incline treadmill sprints – no pain, just felt the slightest soreness in my Achilles region.
As of this post, I'm 29 days out, and I'll share my takeaways below:
- PT or no PT? The safest answer is to see a physical therapist, as they can give guidance on when to expect to meet certain milestones during recovery and what to do at home to speed up recovery and decrease the chances of reinjury (I’ve read that the reinjury rate for calf strains is annoyingly high, and I’m still quite nervous about reinjuring my calf when I fully return to tennis). That said, I think it is acceptable to avoid seeing a physical therapist if you meet the following criteria:
- You don’t have an obvious grade 3 strain or Achilles tear
- Your pain, swelling, and ability to bear weight on the injured leg steadily improve
- You are willing to be diligent about rehabbing the injury yourself. I relied on the following resources which I thought were very helpful:
- If you feel like you’re progressing more slowly than expected, or you regress in any way, you should definitely see a physical therapist at the least. In my case, I had my neighbor who happens to be a retired PT evaluate me on day 2, and she felt that I could get by with self-rehab.
- When to return to tennis? This is where the input of an actual physical therapist would help. I’ve read that for grade 2 calf strains, the general recommendation is to wait for 6 weeks. In my case, I had a very light hit at the 3 week mark. Probably not something I’d recommend, but I was going crazy not having played tennis for 3 weeks. I’d recommend being able to complete the exercises completely pain-free in the links above before returning to tennis.
