Why do I get sore muscles in the front of my calves when I run?

If you were to ask which sport in life is the simplest and requires the least professional knowledge, it would definitely be running. Even for some ball sports, if you don’t have a certain foundation, not only will you not be able to experience the fun, but more importantly, you may get injured during the sport. But running is different, all you need is a pair of running shoes. So, why do you experience soreness in the front calf muscles when running?

There are two common types of calf pain: pain in the front of the calf and pain in the posterior calf muscles. When our calf muscles are not developed enough, it is easy to cause muscle damage under the huge impact force of landing, resulting in pain in the back of the calf muscles.

Pain in the front of the calf is generally called anterior tibial pain. It may be tibial fatigue periostitis, which is mainly caused by underdeveloped muscles in the front of the calf. It is a running injury! It is a deeper pain in the front or middle and lower part of the posterior medial side of the calf (within 15 cm above the medial malleolus). The pain is obvious during exercise and is relieved or disappears when resting. There is tenderness upon pressing, and there is also pain around the tibia.

What are the triggers of front calf pain?

1. Frequent running on roads (hard ground), up and down hills, off-road (uneven roads), etc.

2. Flat feet/high arches are also important risk factors.

3. Excessive tension in the tibialis posterior muscle (imbalance in strength between the front and back of the calf).

4. Excessive external rotation and eversion of the ankle: Studies have shown that insufficient hip abduction leads to knee inward rotation and foot eversion, and is also associated with medial tibial stress syndrome. You can assess the shape of your lower limbs.

5. Novice runners: Excessive or sudden increase in training volume/intensity can easily lead to this problem, so novice runners should not be impatient when increasing their running volume.

What to do if your front calf hurts?

1. Strengthen your leg muscles

Strong muscles can absorb the impact of landing well, thus protecting our bones, knees and ligaments. This is extremely important for preventing sports injuries!

2. Stretch

In fact, enough stretching and warm-up before running can effectively prevent calf pain during running!

3. Nutrition

If muscles are damaged, we need to take in adequate nutrition to repair them. Therefore, we must not skip meals before and after running.