Derek Jeter: 3,000 Reasons Why it’s Not the Calf

He’s getting close.  You can almost taste it.  I’ve seen so much talk, so many tweets, so many blogs about it.  Jeter’s 3,000.  But the calf throws a wrench into it doesn’t it.  More talk.  More hype.  More conjecture.  I’ve got news…..

The calf is the fall guy.  He is going to get all the press, all the heat, all the talk, all the focus, and all the treatment, unfortunately, is going to be aimed at him.  From a rehab/training paradigm, this could be a serious blunder.

Yes, symptom management needs to be aimed at the calf.  Do the modalities, do the “feel good” stuff; the massage, the Stim, the soft tissue, the meds and all of that.  But on the EXERCISE component, do not just focus on the calf.  I bet you the rehab exercise program looks something like this:

• Traditional Sagital Plane Stretches
• Ankle Alphabet laying down
• Tubing exercises laying down
• Calf Isolation Exercises that only target the calf
• Heel Raises

I will pick each of the above methods apart in a minute, but suffice it to say, they are OFF.  Instead of plugging Jeter into a predetermined calf program, what about answering the question, “Why?”

“Overuse” is just an excuse.   That is a cop out and does not answer the question nor solve a problem.  It is poor logic.  If it is overuse, then why not both calves?  Why not his shoulder and hamstring as well?  Everything would be breaking down.  There would be a higher attrition rate if it was just overuse. 

Why did the calf get strained?  Is it really just because he is, “trying harder to get to 3,000?”  Come on now.  There is a reason the calf took the hit.  Without doing a biomechanical analysis on Jeter, obviously I can’t tell, but I have a few hunches.  Let’s get back to the above, conventional, antiquated, boring, nonfuncional, typical calf program and analyze it one at a time.

1. Sagital Plane Stretches:

 Nice Hair Bro!

I picked the dorkiest picture I could find to illustrate my point. 

•  Only addresses the Sagitial Plane.
•  Needs to address the most important planes of motion for the calf: Transverse Plane (rotation) and the Frontal Plane (side to side movements). The calf has to deal with a lot of rotational force with the swing and throwing.  If it is tight in the transverse plane, then it can be a problem, but you can have huge success making it more mobile in the transverse plane.
• It’s not 3D

2.  Ankle Alphabet

Another Dorky Pic!

• A completely non-functional exercise for Jeter. 
• Done laying down therefore takes the hip and foot out – This will not help the calf to deal with batting, running, cutting
• Has nothing to do with the demands of the sport of baseball
• No carry over to help the calf or enhance performance
• A waste of time.  NOT IN MY HOUSE!

3.  Band Strengthening Exercises 

How’s this for a high level sports performance exercise.  Believe it or not, trainers actually have pro athletes do this exercise.  This is not suitable for granny.  Well, maybe.

• Artificial load to the anterior tib muscle. 
• Non-functional: laying down, foot off the ground, hip is on the floor and dormant, foot can’t turn on the hip. 
• Not sport specific and has nothing to do with baseball.  No carry over to improve demands of the sport.  If there is carry over, it is dysfunctional. 
• Conventional thought and training. 
• Does not take into account GRAVITY and ground reaction forces. Does not train the calf to deal with gravity in all three planes of motion. 
• Basically sucks.  Don’t how else to put it.  Poor biomechanis and science.
• It’s not 3D

4. Heel Raises

Thought I would throw in a picture of me doing a traditional heel raise.  Ha.  I’d say this guy had a little help (Juice).

• Conventional heel raise that is done in every clinic and training room.
• Non-functional.  Yes, I said it.  Proprioceptively confusing to the tissue in that the calf doesn’t function loaded in this manner when batting, running and cutting.
• Great for body building though
• Targets only the calf group without addressing the CAUSE of why the calf takes the hit
• Sagital Plane ONLY. 
• It’s not 3D

Let me illustrate with a engineer’s thought process of a bridge. There is structural damage at a certain point on the bridge .  The engineers do a stress/strain analysis of the entire structure to see what is causing the specific area to break down.  Yes, they fix the damaged component, but they address the entire structure and fix the CAUSE.  If they just replaced the piece that was broken down,  they would be back in 6 months to replace it again because they did not address the stress agent.  They don’t just add cement (build muscle) around the the damaged component, they correct the entire structure based on the stress/strain analysis so the damaged area doesn’t take the brunt of the stresses again.  Catch my drift?

What is the main function of the calf for baseball, besides all the obvious rig-a-ma-roll you here about plantarflexion.  Since the gastroc attaches to the femur it is a HUGE player in affecting the TRUNK.  Yes, the trunk.  I know you’re still thinking about heel raises and that calf machine at the gym, but in BASEBALL, the calf affects the trunk and the trunk affects the calf (through the hip).  Don’t believe me, try this:

Stand on your right leg with left foot just adjacent to your right foot but OFF THE FLOOR.  Now, take both arms straight out in front of you and reach out as far as you can without falling over by bending at the waist then come back to starting position standing straight.  DO NOT let your left foot go behind your right foot.  Do about 10 of these.  Reach out, not down.  Did you feel the burn in your calf?  Your heel didn’t come off the floor, therefore no plantarflexion, yet your calf is working big time.  The trunk affects the calf and the calf helps control what is going on in the trunk—-swinging and throwing are huge players affecting the calf. 

Obviously that is not a baseball move.  But the trunk controls the calf and vice versa.  You can add a swing specific move by standing on one leg with arms out and adding rotation into it, rotation with resistance, rotation with speed, with a bat, etc., and that calf will be fried trying to decelerate and control that motion.  I’m talking burning.  Then you can add some one leg HOP drills with the arms doing crazy things to make the calf have to deal with those movements.  Push off drills for base speed with the arms overhead to take the hip out so the calf has to do more work.  It’s limitless.  However, the main goal would to be to find the CAUSE of why the calf is getting chewed up.  For example, if the hip rotators are tight then the calf will get overworked to decelerate internal rotation of the lower extremity because the hip is not doing his job, then—-bada boom, calf strain. 

It’s not the calf’s fault and is usually the combination of a few deficits and biomechanical faults that play into the calf.  Maybe not 3,000 reasons, but it might as well be if the focus is on just the calf and doing traditional calf rehab. 

Michael Griffith PT, CSCS