Tight calves give you beef?

Do you feel like the back of your legs are always tight? You are not alone.

I have seen countless patients and comments from friends (shout out Joanne) that feel that their calves are always tight.

There are a few issues that could result in tightness but before we talk further into that, let’s go through the anatomy of the calf.

The achilles tendon is the biggest tendon in the body. Tendons are made of strong fibrous collagen tissue that connects muscles to bone. Their main role is to facilitate movement.

As you can see from the picture above, the achilles tendon connects the heel bone to the big gastrocnemius muscle and underlying soleus muscles.

Any shortening of these muscles or tendons from exercise or everyday lifestyle can cause them to feel stiff.

However you can also get stiffness in your nerves.

Nerves are like any other structure in your body. They can get stiff and tight from lack of movement. This can lead to a number of symptoms, like pins and needles, numbness, burning, tingling, feeling hot or cold or tightness.

This is why it’s important to also stretch out your nerves regularly.

Here is a short video of 2 exercises you can do to stretch out your achilles tendon, 1 for the ankle joint and one for those tight nerves.

Give them a go, hold the stretch for 5 seconds and do 20 repetitions.

You will initially feel uncomfortable but it will slowly ease after 10-15 reps.

Try these exercises for a week and if you’re still feeling tight, click here to book or give us a call on 0402 832 329 and we can work on it together. :)

Thank you for your time.

Warm regards,