2. Muscle strain
If you strain a muscle in your calf, it’s going to take a lot longer to recover from than a calf cramp, that’s for sure. Interestingly though, the short-lived intense pain of a muscle cramp can actually be more difficult to bear than the long and drawn out pain that comes with a calf strain.
A calf strain occurs through overuse of the muscle or sudden injury. The duration of a calf strain depends on the severity, but usually, someone can find their way back to full fitness in a timeframe of somewhere between 3 and 6 weeks.
This all depends on the base level of fitness of that person though, and it is certainly true that someone who is already physically fit can expect a shorter recovery time than someone who is out of shape and overweight for instance. Following the rest, ice, compression and elevation principles is a good way to speed up the recovery time.