I don’t mean that your calves are literally huge. Well, they might be, and that’s cool because calves are awesome! What I mean is that the role your calves play in your overall health is huge. For the most part, I think we tend to simply forget about our calves when it comes to our health, however, ignore your calves at your own peril!
It all starts when the calf muscle begins to shorten. You might be thinking that your calves are not short. You don’t have pain in your calves, so they must be doing great, right? Actually, it often isn’t your calf that feels pain when it gets shortened. It shows up in other areas, and this is why it can be tricky to spot issues caused (or amplified) by shortened calf muscles. While working at Unshoes, we have sometimes gone out to different events to market our sandals. One of the most frequent comments I get are, “I would love to wear those but I have to have arch support”. Or, “Those look awesome, but I have plantar fasciitis”. I’m no podiatrist, or biomechanist so I’m not going to claim that plantar fasciitis is caused by tight calves, but I feel comfortable telling you that tight calves can affect it. Really, it’s just basic logic if you think about it. Plantar fasciitis is a pain that shows up in the bottom fascia (flesh) of the foot, often near the heel. It feels like the tendons are being pulled and tightened like a guitar string. According to webMD, (which is always right because it’s on the internet!) plantar fasciitis is caused by “strain” on the ligament that stretches between the heel and the toes. Guess what part of the body your calf muscle is connected to through another ligament? Yeah, the heel. If your calf muscle (which is pretty powerful by the way) is pulling on your heel then chances are it can affect other ligaments that connect to the same bone. It’s basic mechanics. Of course there are other factors involved as well but the two parts of the body are connected. Literally.
This is my quick, anatomically imperfect sketch of the ligaments that connect the calf, heel and foot. You can imagine that if the calf and foot muscles are shortened, they both attach to the heel. When weight is applied to the foot the arch is going to stretch and with both tendons connecting at the heel, there is going to be some serious pressure around the heel!
The other side of the calf muscle is connected to the knee. (Knee pain anyone?) From there it can affect the hamstrings, which we also have a nasty habit of shortening. The hamstrings then end up pulling on the pelvic, gluteal, lower back muscles and pelvic floor issues. Everything is connected and it becomes a chain reaction that can wreak havoc on various parts of the body along the way. For a lot of people, it shows up as lower back pain. Most of us have weak core muscles because, quite frankly, we don’t use them very much. Our core muscles support our back so when you get all this tension coming up from your legs pulling on a weakened core, it can cause some damage. I struggled with lower back pain for years and I can tell you that it’s hard to do anything when you have lower back pain! More recently, my back has felt better than it has in years, and it is wonderful!
Now that you know what tight calves can do to your body, let’s talk about how they get tight in the first place and then we can discuss how to lengthen them.
Our bodies are always adapting to the positions that we are in most of the time, so if your calves are tight then it means that you have been spending plenty of time in a position that doesn’t require much calf length. There are two big culprits that commonly contribute to tight calves.
- Sitting
While in the normal sitting position (legs in 90°) it puts slack in the calf muscle from the top. (hamstring and knee). As you sit there without using your calf, your body adapts and starts reducing the amount of overall length in the sacromeres. Sacromeres are the basic units of striated tissue that allows muscles to contract and expand. For a visual, imagine two different rubber bands. In a relaxed position, they look identical. However, when you stretch them, one stretches to 1.5 times its relaxed length, the other stretches 4 times its relaxed length. The difference is that a sacromere is elongated in a relaxed position. - Shoes
There are three main factors in shoes that contribute to shorter calf muscles. First, they can inhibit the range of motion in the ankle. They call this “ankle support”, and it is often sought after. “Support” is often just a nice way of saying “restrictive”. The range of motion of the ankle when you point your toes forward and backward is called dorsiflexion. The calf is much of what drives this motion. If you inhibit that motion then you inhibit the range that the calf lengthens and contracts.
Second, and possibly the biggest contributor, is wearing shoes with a raised heel. Although high heels are probably the worst offender, I’m not just talking about high heels. Many athletic and running shoes have up to an inch added to the back of the shoe. It’s not as obvious because of the way the shoe is designed, but if you look closely you can see that there is much more padding in the back. There are a myriad of reason a raised heel in a shoe is horrible, but one of the big ones is that it takes away dorsiflexion during a resting position. If you are just standing and your calf is not engaged, then it makes your calf rest in a shortened position because of the lack of dorsiflexion. I’m sure most of you have seen runners stretch their calves during or after a run. They know that they need to stretch but they don’t realize that by wearing a heeled shoe, they are slowly counteracting the effects of stretching.
The third main role that shoes play in the length of your calf muscles, is the overall flexibility of the shoe sole. If the shoes are stiff then they work more like a cast and inhibit the movement of your feet and lower legs. Again, by reducing the range of motion you reduce your mobility.
What can you do now?
There are several things you can do to help lengthen your calves. First of all, I suggest NOT doing rather than doing.
• Stop wearing heeled shoes!
That is the fastest and most simple way to start out. Luckily, there are more and more options in the market for zero drop (no raised heel) shoes like Altra Shoes, or minimal shoe companies like Unshoes (yes, shameless plug).
• Stop sitting so much!
While this isn’t a complicated change, it can be difficult. I’m sitting at a computer while writing this! I try to move around as much as I can. I take movement (and snack!) breaks often and I often write on a laptop so I can stand, sit on the floor, squat, etc. It gives me more flexibility. If you work in an office, talk to your supervisor. Odds are, they are willing to accommodate you. Especially if you feel that your productivity is being compromised by your declining health! 😉 Standing desks and conversions are becoming more available. You can simply stretch more at work or sit on your chair with your legs stretched out in front of you. Another suggestion is to have picnics outside more often. Bring a blanket and sit on the ground while you eat. Change positions and try to sit with at least one leg outstretched much of the time. Be more picky about what meetings you go to and how long they are.
• Think about how you move every day.
When you bend over to pick something up off the floor try doing it with your back straight and do a forward bend. This is a great opportunity to stretch your legs. This is a dynamic stretch which I will write another blog post on but dynamic stretches do more than static because the part that you’re trying to stretch is more involved in the process where a static stretch is simply putting external forces on the part that you are working on.
In addition to lengthening your calves through lifestyle changes, you can also do some exercises to do a little more. My favorite way to stretch my calves is to prop my toes up onto something like a rock while standing. We have a yoga half dome bolster at home for calf stretching. Gently drop your weight onto your heel. If you feel the stretch then that is good enough. If you need more of a stretch then you can lean forward (remember dorsiflexion?). I like this stretch because it’s easy and I feel it actually stretching my calf and not just pulling on the back of my knee like many leg stretches do. As you stretch, the process should feel good with maybe a tich of discomfort. If it hurts, back off! The trick is to keep yourself just outside of the comfort zone as frequently as possible. Think about how you can stretch your calves while doing other things. My wife likes to stretch while washing dishes. I often find something to stretch my calves on at work while at the computer or while I’m standing and talking to someone.
The main goal of this post is to help you become more aware of your calves, how they are affected by your everyday habits, and how they affect the rest of your body. Becoming aware is half the battle! If you struggle with foot, knee, lower back or pelvic floor issues then I suggest putting forth some effort to lengthen your calves. What do you have to lose? The results may not be immediate but you might be surprised at how much better you feel after giving your calves some love and attention. So what are you going to do today to start lengthening your calves? Share your experience with others in the comments below!