Expert: Dr. Paul Newhart - 12/2/2008

Question
I am a 35 year old male--a runner for many years now, and an all-around sports lover/player.  In August this year I got a huge pain in my left leg whenever I would fall asleep--I would wake up in excrutiating pain, and it would take many minutes of walking around to make it stop (sort of).  This was diagnosed as a pinched nerve, and I had to take massive amounts of Advil to deal with the pain, which frequently woke me up and did not allow me to sleep.  Eventually, however, this went away (maybe 2 weeks of pain).

After that, I began my soccer coaching season and ran almost every day with my teams (I coached 2).  I began having massive leg cramps in my calf muscles and they were often very stiff no matter how much I stretched them.  I stupidly ignored this, thinking I could run through the pain.

I began to notice late in the soccer season that I could not run as fast as I had been running, and the process of running became more labored. I stupidly kept running anyway, thinking my body would overcome it.

In very early November I went for a run and began to get excruciating pain behind my knees (in back of my leg), but I kept running...stupidly.

The next day I could barely walk, and I knew something was seriously amiss.  The pain began to subside after a few days, but I then noted that I had lost almost all strength in my left calf--to the point that I could not raise my body weight on it when trying to use it alone to do a toe lift, and my right calf was weaker than it had been as well.  

It has now been about 3 weeks since the injury, and I am still feeling the ill effects.  I have noted a BIT of strength returning to my left calf, but not much.  My doctor is sending me for a nerve conduction study, but he says he is not sure what is up.  

I am wondering if I might have a spinal-level problem (I have had some minor lower back pain, but nothing serious) that is causing all this and preventing it from healing.  

I am terrified that I will never run again.  I can walk, but it really seems to take effort to walk long distances now.  This really is awful, and I would appreciate any advice.  Thanks for listening.

Answer
I would have a study done for DVT, to make sure there is no problem with blood flow in the calves.  That would be first and foremost.  I would then check with a good chiropractor to assess and treat this ( it may be a misalignment in the low back, causing some pinching to the nerves to the calves).  They should be able to get you back on track.