Calf Strain Exercises

A calf strain is a pulled or torn calf muscle. It is a fairly common injury, especially in sports that involve sprinting or quick changes of direction in running. The calf muscle is the muscle that allows you to stand on your tip-toes or raise your heels off the ground. It's important for running and many other activities. A number of simple exercises can help you rehabilitate a torn calf muscle. Before trying these, you should rest and ice the muscle until you feel no pain in the resting position.

Strap Flex

• With the foot of the injured leg flexed, wrap an exercise band, or any other kind of strap, once around the ball of your foot and hold both ends in one hand. Slowly point your toes, moving the ball of your foot away from you, against the resistance of the band. You should feel your calf muscle working against the resistance. Perform three sets of ten of these extensions.

Standing Calf Raises

• Stand on the edge of a step, with your toes and the balls of your feet on the step and your heels hanging out over it. Lower your heels so that they hang just below the surface of the step until you feel the stretch in your calf muscle. Slowly raise your heels as high as you can, flexing the calf muscle. Perform three sets of 10. If you need more resistance, you can do these on one leg at a time, curling the resting leg behind the calf of your working leg.

Seated Calf Raises

• This is a toned-down version of the previous exercise. Sit in a chair with both feet flat on the floor and knees about hip-width apart. Slowly raise your heels, keeping your toes and the balls of your feet on the floor, then lower your heels to the starting position. To include a stretch you can flex your foot after lowering your heel to the ground. Perform three sets of 10.

Calf Stretch

• Stretching your calf muscle will help to prevent future calf strains. After a warm-up, and again at the end of your workout, stand with your hands against a wall. Place one foot as far behind you as you can comfortably get it while standing. Try to place the heel of the extend leg on the ground, bringing the foot closer to you if you need to. Find a foot placement that gives you a good stretching feeling in your calf and hold it for five deep breaths. Repeat this with the other leg.

Standing Leg Raise

• Stand up straight on a flat surface. Slowly raise your heels off the floor, pushing with the balls of your feet. Perform three sets of ten raises, and concentrate on using the resistance of the floor to work your calf muscles. This will help to rebuild their strength after an injury.

Isolate Injured Leg

• When the pain of the initial injury has subsided a bit, try running short sprints or running a short flight of stairs to work the muscle and get it warm. In between each sprint, or each flight of stairs, perform a calf stretch from a standing position, not against the wall. This means you should stand upright with feet shoulder-width apart, then place your injured leg behind you and stretch the heel to the ground. Place the leg far enough behind you that you feel a stretch when you move your heel to the ground. Performing this stretch amid hard work will help to rehabilitate the leg. You will probably want to stretch the healthy leg as well so you don't feel unbalanced.