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Does anyone else worry about their stride?

It’s hard to imagine something as simple and intuitive as walking or running can be so difficult. I’ve known my stride is a little screwy for some time, and there are two reasons for that: 1) I have a slight tilt to my pelvis, which makes it appear as though I have one leg shorter than the other ; 2) problems with both of my feet resulted in my walking on the outside edges of my feet. I try to correct it when I think about it, but it often takes conscious effort. When I run, my thoughts frequently stray.

I think my gait contributed to a problem I used to have before I started karate. When I walked longer distances or tried to walk fast, the muscles along the outside of my calves would tighten up. If I pushed through the pain, they’d tighten up so bad that the pain would last for hours. Stretching helped a little, but there were times I could barely extend my foot.

As I said, this improved with karate. Four months after I started, I walked a good two miles or so with my family and some relatives. Most of them walk considerably faster than I, and I’m used to falling behind and sometimes having to stop and stretch my calves from time to time (thus falling behind even farther). Instead, this time I was at the front of the pack. Even carrying a load from a picnic. I attributed the improvement to a loss of weight and an improvement in leg strength, and it hasn’t bothered me since.

Until last night. My calf muscles — on the back side — were a bit sore from moving furniture all weekend, but I went out for my run anyway. A little more than halfway through, I started to feel the familiar sting along the outside of my calves. By the end of my run, they had tightened up pretty good. Not as bad as in the past, and not bad enough to put me on my butt, but plenty irritating.

It’s got me wondering if it’s more than just my stride. I try to stay hydrated, and I take vitamins so I can’t imagine it’s a magnesium or calcium deficiency as suggested here. I may have to re-evaluate my pre-workout stretching and see if that makes a difference.

If not, I guess it will be time to chat up my doctor or chiropractor, or perhaps an orthopoedist.