Talk:Gastrocnemius muscle

Injuries
Gastrocnemius muscle: what about the injures? When I strained that muscle playing soccer, I was told I should eat bananas and drink plenty of water before I play to reduce the chance of straining that muscle. Why does this work? Or does it not work? -Unknown

Tear
My doctor told me I had a gastrocnemius tear in my right leg. I did this playing softball going from second to third. He said no more softball this year. He said it was so swollen that there was some internal bleeding. I am suppose to take aleve 2 times a day and if it doesnt get better, then I will need some therapy. He also said to put heat two times a day on it. Is there anything that I can do to speed the process and make sure I will not reinjure it? Steve

I have exactly the same problem. In my right leg aswell. Im frightend im going to die or something :( What is aleve? - Worried 15 year old. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.141.197.30 (talk) 16:16, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Role in knee flexion?
I recall reading somewhere that the gastrocnemius was a synergiest in knee flexion. This seems to make sense since unlike the soleus it does attach above the knee joint. Thus, whether you're plantar or dorsiflexing during something like leg/knee curls would have some effect upon its ability to contribute, and thus affect overall strength. I don't see it mentioned in the article though. If I find where that was mentioned I'll see if its sources are citeable for this article. Tyciol (talk) 11:00, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Ethmology
Does anybody know the origin of the name? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Napneto (talk • contribs) 15:10, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Tight calf muscle
So my problem is that every morning and if i sit for more then 20 mins my calfs get very tight, like i had a charlie horse. They hurt when i get up and walk but go away after alittle bit of walking. Does anyone know what this could be or what i can do to make it go away??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.192.87.16 (talk) 22:41, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I know this response is late as hell, but it sounds like simple muscle spasms, particularly if they consistently go away when you walk a bit -- best muscle spasm cure I know is to stretch the afflicted muscle. If you're in a hurry to quiet the pain down, try sitting on the floor, grabbing the ball of your foot with one or both hands, and pulling back hard like you're trying to touch the top of your foot to your shin (don't pull it that far, just pull it in that direction).  This should hurt like hell for a few seconds while you force the spasming muscle to full extension, then quickly stop hurting. This is not professional medical advice, merely what works every time for another spasm sufferer.--98.232.209.203 (talk) 03:41, 10 October 2010 (UTC)


 * A simple stretch you may be able to do is that you place the afflicted leg behind you and stretch it by leaning against a pole with the front foot closer to the pole. examples of this may be found on google images. 75.171.149.220 (talk) 20:35, 21 June 2012 (UTC) a helpful kid

number of muscle fibres
The medial gastrocnemius has by far the highest number of muscle fibres in human skeletal muscles. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.206.212.98 (talk) 04:13, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

GASTROCNEMIUS AND SOLEUS
Iam trying to findout which works while the leg is bent and which while straight. If someone knows, you should add that. Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.7.198 (talk) 13:10, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Title and disambiguation
I'm trying to understand why this article and the one on its companion, soleus muscle, need the word "muscle" in the title, since it is not needed for disambiguation and these muscles are usually referred to as "the gastrocnemius" or "the soleus". Gastrocnemius redirects here and soleus redirects to soleus muscle, which rather reinforces the point. --Bermicourt (talk) 20:25, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

Latin names
Am I correct that the gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis are respectively the muscles labeled inner and outer head in the diagram? I had to look elsewhere to even guess, because the latin doesn't appear anywhere on the page, and the words in the description provided aren't illustrated. DAVilla (talk) 09:05, 22 November 2021 (UTC)