Hi, Have a look at a physio site on Gastrocnemius strains, a complete rupture (grade 3) will be LESS painful as you will tear the muscle away from its origin, the medial head attaches to the medial (inner) part of femur, lateral head on the outer part of the femur. A grade 2 means some of the muscle fibres are still attached to its origin or to the other part of the muscle, so every time you move your foot, the muscle stretches.

It crosses two joints but the main function is to plantarflex the ankle and flex the knee.

Mine tore right in the muscle belly, felt like someone had pelted something at me, and in the middle of virgin gym I looked like a right idiot yelling out as I lowered myself to the floor :/

It is important to start the deep tissue massage as you don't want the muscle shortening and healing in this way.

When is your physio appointment? they seem to be leaving it a little late if your injury is already 2 weeks! Did you go to A&E and did they mention a physio referral as this should have been filled in and sent to the out patients dept within 24 hrs. They then either phone you with an appointment or send you a letter to opt in to rehab.

I worked in the physio team so was seen straight away, but I knew as I could not get my heel to the ground I would need an insert from orthotics. This is another thing they should have offered you. I was advised by my physio to wear heels as it is more comfortable than flats but unless your into that sort of thing I doubt you will find that helpful :( The inserts are in different sizes, the orthotist will observe you walking bare foot and measure the distance from floor to foot and give you the correct insert which you peel a layer off every few days to gradually lower your foot.

Have you been doing any stretches and massage on yourself? The healing of this injury varies in each person and mine was a bitch to heal! My bruising took a week to come out and pool around my ankle joint hence the importance of keeping the leg moving to help disburse the built up fluid. Measure your calf and go and buy a compression bandage, they come in different sizes, you will prob need a D or E double length and enough to cover your ankle and full calf area.

email me if you need some advice on stretching the muscle and I will forward you some I have kel3jw'at'hotmail.co.uk

Hope I wasn't waffling too much there!

K :)