I Got To Take My Own Advice - How I Am Healing My Calf

Dawn Ross
Feb 2, 2023
I got to take my own advice. Three weeks ago I strained my left lower leg downhill skiing. My photo is the top left one. ⁣My injury was the 3rd in a string of lower limb injuries in our family, over the last few months. These things happen in 3s, right?


Now before you go saying “Dawn, this is why I don’t ski." We play hard and we've been injury free for a few years so it was bound to happen.

Statistically speaking, accidents happen when doing the things we do most often. This is why the insurance company asks if you drive to work. Accidents happen more when people drive more. Duh. 

I spend 100s of hours skiing each season. 
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Accidents & injuries happen. They are a part of life. I assure you there is no way to bulletproof or injury-proof yourself. I’m grateful my body was as 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 as it could be for the spill I took.

Usually, someone seeks my help 1:1 for something just like this - they got hurt doing something they love - skiing, playing ultimate frisbee, mountain biking, trail running, playing hockey. Or they’re mostly healed and they do something that makes it hurt more than the usual flaring symptoms.

Typically these folks have been trying their damndest to fully recover but have a hard time gauging what is too little & too much to completely recover. That’s where I come in.

In the case of my family, all 3 of us, for the most part, did what I've prescribed to 1,000s of students & clients over the years:

  1. First few days, get imagining/diagnosis, protect the area, elevate it, rest, compression (if the area tolerates) & avoid unnecessary passive treatments & medical investigations.  Take what you need for discomfort/pain so that you can sleep somewhat comfortably.
  2. Day 4-10 - Move your body in all the ways you can that don't aggravate things. I opted to wear wedge shoes over using crutches so I could walk without aggravating things or stressing out my brain. Which was very keyed into & worried about my heel unexpectedly extending to the ground. Do stuff that has your brain not be hyper-vigilant about every movement. Keep doing the stuff from #1.
  3. Day 10 - 21 - Edge into loads & positions that don't aggravate the area or cause the brain to be hyper-focused on what & how you are moving. This includes passive treatments that cause pain or where you anticipate pain.
  4. Week 4 - 6 - Get the joints involved in the injury or in my case the ones above & below the injury moving more closely to what they were before the injury. This is where I have some awesome skills because I think about how to get the joints to move in ways that aren't obvious to most people. You can see some of what I came up with to get my ankles, knees & hips in this video. You'll notice the number of downward-moving strength movements I did versus the traditional upwards strength movements that generally include ad nauseam double & single-leg calf raises. None of us did a single calf raise (more on why we didn't in the future).
  5. Week 6 to 1 - 3 years - This is the remodeling & maturation phase where the injured tissue needs progressive loading on the axis of loading. In plain english: you need to train the area in ways it will be used during the activities you do. This requires out-of-the-box thinking because traditional calf raises, squats & lunges aren't going to load my calf, ankle & foot stuff in the ways they are used when I hike & ski. I'm really good at this too. You'll notice in the video I use inclines & declines to simulate the weird angles  I need for skiing.

It'll be another week or two before I test how things feel skiing. I already know my calf & brain aren't going to be good with hard, icy conditions yet. There needs to be a few dumps of snow before I'm willing to see how things feel skiing.

If you have a new or lingering soft tissue injury that is keeping you from living the life you want, reach out. I’d love to support you in getting back to the activities you love.