Hi everyone,
last year I injured both calves (grade 2 strain) and even though the muscle injury is healed I’m still experiencing pain in both, whether it’s on the bike or at rest. I’ve been followed by a PT and my family doctor for the past year and for them it’s the pain is most likely the results of nerves being irritated. The pain is less intense depending on the intensity of a workout and at rest it’s mostly manageable (although I’ve been in pain for more than a year now…). The pain is mostly burning sensation, tingling and sometime sharp but it really is different from the initial sensation I had when dealing with the strain (which was more painful and lots of muscle twitch.
We’ve explored a few things with my PT and my family GP but nothing really has gotten rid of the pain. I can still ride at a decent level of intensity and the pain is manageable but I just have not been pain free for the past 14 months now.
There’s a few test to be done but my overall health is good and I do not have conditions such as diabetes that would cause neuropathy related pain.
There’s medications that would help but they’re mostly anti-depressant or anti-seizure drugs which I would definitely try to avoid as the related side effects might be more detrimental to my overall quality of life.
I’m therefore a bit at a loss in terms of what to do…I did read that perhaps my nerve pain could be aggravated or at least partly related to a poor diet. I indeed do not have the best diet but it’s not terrible either.
So my question would be, has anyone experience similar pain after an muscle injury that could be attributed to nerve being irritated and what have you done to make things better? Should I try a special diet (mostly anti-inflammatory food, no gluten, etc.) and has anyone tried and it did improve things?
Sorry for the very long post but context might help.
Thanks for sharing your experiences!