Trigger Points: Calf Muscle

Video Transcript

DR. CHRIS MANGO: Hi. This is Dr. Chris Mango here in New York City. On behalf of Expert Village, we're going to be taking a look at trigger points today. We're going to do one more muscle in the lower extremities, the gastrocnemius or more commonly known as the calf muscle. This is the gastroc. It's split into two halves under the calf. The trigger points are going to be here and here, and when they're painful, they can cause pain coming down the side or down the middle of the Achilles tendon. Let's show you the movement of the gastrocs. Movement--when this contracts is just plantarflexion, the foot goes out. Girls wearing high heels, runners, this is a common muscle that everybody has a problem with. It's always tight, just the way we walk around, the way our shoes are built. Let me show you how to find the trigger point and treat it. Go to the knee, cup about halfway down the calf to about this area. You'll feel a nice knotty presence in here, and as before, press and hold. When the patient no longer feels it, press and hold a little harder. Make sure the patient breathes the whole time. That was a brief show of the lower extremity muscle groups. Now let's move on to the trunk.