Calf Muscle Dead, Need help (pics included).?!


Question: Calf Muscle Dead, Need help (pics included).?
I had a injury on my right leg around 10 years ago. While playing football another player kicked me on my right leg. I was 14 when this happened, I am 24 now. I am 5ft7, 160lbs, 33" waist, I go to gym regularly and play sports and am generally active.

Since the injury, my right leg calf muscle has continually gotten smaller and on the other my left leg calf muscle has gotten gradually larger. I guess the left leg calf muscle is getting bigger because it takes more load while I walk. The difference in circumference is 3 inches, which is quite significant and noticeable)

What I think might of happened, maybe my nerve cells detached or nerve cells are now dead and therefore no blood supply/nutrients reach the left calf muscle and consequently it just wont respond to any exercise/weight training. (My knowledge is limited this is my best guess)

So basically what my aim is, to try and re-build my smaller calf muscle. I think it might involve me trying to explore nerve regeneration, or something along those lines. Tbh, I am stuck and I don't know how to go about this.

I have seen my GP several times in past 5 years and have been referred several times to specialists/physiotherapists. No offence they were useless and a waste of time. In fact a family friend showed that my way of walking was wrong (my walking habit suffered from injury but I did not realise it), she showed me how to walk properly, which helped more then those DR's.

So I want to go into private healthcare and want advice on who I should contact, what type of specialist ect. Any other advice you can give regarding my situation would be much appreciated.

This is serious for me because this injury is leading to many problems, like neck pain/back pain/posture problems and more.

I have taken pics to reveal the difference.

front view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52060992@N0…

back view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52060992@N0…

Answers:

This is interesting. I think most doctors should find this an interesting case. Which should bode well for you and a prognosis.

Ideally an Internal medicine or even a GP should give you proper referrals.

You see here is this problem -- If there is substantial nerve or vascular damage then the innervation of the problematic calf muscle is severely impaired, and just doing physical therapy or exercise won't achieve the results. It should be fairly evident by the unilateral difference. The calves should stay regular through regular movement.

Unless your gait is substantially different and thus you are really using your left leg 60-75% more than your right.

Impossible to tell from just looking.

If you have done single legged resistance exercises for months at a time and NOT done them on the 'good leg' and the calf does not respond -- then you need to see a neurologist. The neurologist can perform tests on the muscle function and nerve function in that area and should be able to further refer you out beyond this depending on the test results.

Physical therapy is great for most things.. but if there is an underlying nerve or other tissue dysfunction causing the muscle atrophy then that has to be addressed. This could ultimately result to anything from a neurosurgeon, vascular surgeon, orthopaedist, to even a podiatrist etc. You are correct in addressing this now and not letting it get worse.

Worst case, there is nerve damage that cannot be repaired by traditional methods and you will need to use orthotics , braces , and such equipment to even the load so it doesn't negatively effect your knee's, hips, spine and so on.

Here's to hoping you get a proper referral, and then to hoping the testing results in possibilities for recovery of the muscle function. Ideally muscle should be able to grow, hypertrophy with resistance. This could even be related to tendons, or other soft tissue . Keep at it and you will get answers.




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