Calf Pain for Dummies

Anatomy of the calf

When it comes to medical questions, we prefer to get our information from a professional. 'Nuff said? Apparently not everyone agrees, however, that if you have an ache or pain, you should talk to your doctor or other person who is educated in the field (as opposed to some "personal trainer" who took "kinesiology"). So why would we want medical advice from someone who, like Livestrong's Michelle Wishhart, is a gardener with an English lit degree? especially if we want to know about "Calf & Walking Pain"?¹

Wishhart's self-appointed position as "expert" notwithstanding, she did a little research, claiming to have read five different websites before writing her piece (note: you need to use the wayback machine to find them, since Livestrong doesn't publish references any more). The problem, of course, is that Michelle didn't seem to understand the question, since she thinks the number one cause of calf pain while walking is...

"...an overuse condition called Achilles tendonitis [sic] -- inflammation of the Achilles tendon, the strong band of fibers that connects the calf muscle to the heel bone." Ummm, no, Michelle, Achilles tendinitis doesn't cause calf pain! Those of us who've had the condition know that it hurts like hell in the heel, where – according to an MD – the tendon becomes inflamed, but the pain is not in the calf. No, it's in the heel: you know, the only part of the mythological Achilles that wasn't invulnerable... oops.

After that slug of misinformation, Wishhart's only other suggestion is that you might have peripheral artery disease. There are several other possibilities, including a muscle strain, sciatica, venous insufficiency, and peripheral neuropathy — but just PAD, according to Michelle. When it comes to mitigating your pain, she advises quitting smoking (but what if you already don't smoke?) and claims that one symptom is "difficulty detecting pulse below the narrowed artery"; which we guess is her copy-reword-paste for what the Harvard Health Letter cites as "diminished pulse below the narrowed artery." Maybe...

Wishhart misidentifies Achilles tendinitis as "calf pain" and cites only one of several possible causes of calf pain, then instructs readers in a rudimentary stretching exercise. Not only does she demonstrate poor knowledge of anatomy (did she take Anatomy while getting that BA in English?), she also misses several potential causes of calf pain; plenty of reasons to anoint Michelle our Dumbass of the Day.

¹ The original has been sent to the Leaf Group cleanup team for a rewrite, but can still be accessed using the Wayback machine at archive.org. Its URL was   www.livestrong.com/article/336652-calf-walking-pain/

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