Everyone wants a healthy leg movement without any pain or discomfort. But some conditions or diseases can hurt your leg muscles. Your calf muscles may get hurt by overstretching or due to other reasons. If you feel pain or discomfort in your calf, visit your healthcare provider. A Calf Ultrasound is a perfect diagnostic technique that helps to see the muscles and the surrounding area. 

Let’s dig into the torn calf and why ultrasound is critical to detect the causing factor. 

What is a Torn Calf Muscle?

The lower leg has calf muscles that are behind the shiny bone and extend from the knee behind to down the heels. Sudden movements or other reasons like stretching can tear your muscles in the calf. They are more likely to tear as their location is between two joints the ankle and the knee. These muscles have tight fibres that put them at high risk of overstretching injuries. If you perform a physical activity or an exercise, you should pay attention to how you move your legs. 

Who is at Risk of Torn Calf Muscles?

As we discussed, people can experience tron muscles in the calf due to overstretching during physical activity or exercise. But it is common in the following people:

• People over age 40 are at risk of torn calf muscles due to ageing or weakened muscles. 
• Performing intense physical activity without the proper way
• People with short or tight calf muscles
• Athletes who play sports more frequently and need sudden movements like jumping or direction change movements

What are the Symptoms and Causes of Torn Calf Muscles?

When you experience a torn calf muscle, the following symptoms may appear:

• Having a popping or snapping sensation in your calf
• Feel no calf strength which makes it difficult to balance on the injured leg
• See bruising or swelling in the calf muscle
• Having a sudden pain in the lower leg back,  like someone is kicking behind your knee

Severe conditions can lead to the following cases:

• It can form a blood clot deep in your vein, which is known as DVT
• Having severe swelling that interrupts blood flow from reaching muscles 
• It increases the chance of blood clots in a vein near the skin 

How to Diagnose Torn Calf Muscle?

When you visit a doctor, a physical exam is performed. It helps doctors see bruising or swelling surrounding muscle. They may press a little bit to see the pain and injury in your lower leg. Performing a calf ultrasound can help to diagnose the potential causes in your leg and the severity of torn muscles, says NCBI. 

An ultrasound with Doppler uses sound waves to get detailed images of soft tissue inside your body. It helps to see muscle tears. Severe cases can lead to blood clots or internal bleeding. But ultrasound is the best way to see blood clots inside your legs due to torn muscles. 

A probe is used to send the sound waves inside your body. When they are hit by organs or any other object, they bounce back and create images on a computer screen. 

The Bottom Line

A calf ultrasound is the best way to diagnose the potential cause or condition of torn muscles in the calf. Before an exercise, you should warm up your body and follow proper instructions to prevent the risk of calf muscle tears. If you experience pain or swelling in your calf, get medical help. RIZ Ultrasound is a leading service provider of ultrasound in Glasgow. You can contact us and book your appointment as we use advanced equipment to give effective and high-accuracy results.