Outer Calf + Ankle Pain

[hunter_eccentric]

Throughout the years in my riding I’ve been having progressively worsening pain/cramping down the muscle on the outside of my calves. The pressure increases on my ankles and eventually my ankles feel as though the are collapsing out and my toes turn in. I can’t support my weight on them if im riding for more than an hour. I bought the stirrups that rotate at the top to release some pressure but it only does so much.

Has anyone else experienced this? I have bad knees too (tend to dislocate easily) so i’m thinking it might been my conformation (lol).

[Wanderosa]

What style do you primarily ride in? Hunter tends to be hard on knees and ankles IME because the hip flexor is so closed off.

[hunter_eccentric]

Hunters! But even flatting at home is painful.

[Ceylon_Star]

Wider tread stirrups are going to help more than offset eye stirrups. You need more support under your foot. My favourites are the Reflex irons by Compositi, but anything wider tread like Jin, Royal Rider, etc would work. If your ankles are hyperflexing then adding heel lifts in your boots might help a bit.

You might also want to consider a magnesium supplement. Or MSM. Both can help with tight muscles/cramping. I take magnesium daily, but I also have an MSM gel (actually made for horses) that I use topically on areas that are prone to seizing up. Lately that’s been my ankle/outside of my calf on my good leg, from compensating from my bad leg giving me issues in the last few weeks. Even just walking around can make my leg seize on me. Liberally applying the gel to the affected area can help in about 10 minutes, at leaat enough to make stretching bearable.

[hunter_eccentric]

That is very helpful, thank you! I currently have the MDC with the twist tops and they are pretty wide. I think I might try the angled grips and some magnesium.