Consider yourself getting awake in the middle of the night and screaming due to severe cramp in your calf which won’t go away at any cost. This pain can be so intense that it can even bring tears in your eyes. Although the pain lasts only minutes but it’s powerful enough to disturb a person’s sleep, having a possibility the after effects last for the whole night and you can still feel the pain in your legs next day as well.
HOW TO GET RID OF LEG CRAMPS FAST
WHAT REALLY ARE LEG CRAMPS?
In a person’s life everybody must have faced leg cramps at some point, they come and go, but for leg cramps here are some of the symptoms that justify that you are suffering from this disease:
- They stretch a part of muscle in your leg suddenly
- You don’t have control over it
- Usually involves calf, but can occur on foot as well
- Pain is severe
- Occurs at night and pain lasts for night
WHY DO LEG CRAMPS OCCUR?
These type of pain is usually referred as “idiopathic”, which is a slang term and means that there is no cause for this to occur in the patients. Some scientists and doctors have researched the following as expected causes:
- Dehydration
- Diabetes
- Muscle Fatigue ( common with people involved in HIIT i.e. High Intensity Interval Workouts or people having a change in workout routine)
- Nerve Problems (Peripheral neuropathy)
- People suffering from kidney failure
- Pregnancy
- People suffering from medication side effects like antidepressants, sleep aids, etc.
HOW TO REDUCE CRAMPS
INCREASE WATER USAGE
A leading cause is said to be dehydration which causes leg cramps. You can increase the water intake and especially in warm climates or while working out. It occurs so because when your body becomes dehydrated, it starts loosing minerals, like potassium, salt, calcium and magnesium rapidly.
USE MORE MINERALS
Unhealthy eating habit and calorie restriction are a major cause which can make a major drop in a reduction of calcium, potassium and magnesium.
- Try eating rich foods like meat, eggs, fish, milk, yogurt, meat, cereals, nuts and fruit.
- Have foods which are rich in potassium like dry apricots, bananas, fish, bans, potatoes and mushrooms.
- Be sure that your body is getting enough salt. If you have sweat a lot you may be on the risk of losing many minerals such as salt which makes muscles cramp off. So a better option would be if you feel hungry instead of going and eating salty chips go for a sports drink.
These products are recommended by doctors only if you tend to sweat a lot or for straight 90 minutes you are competing. Otherwise, it is also recommended to increase the usage of sodium in your meal
HOW TO GET RID OF CRAMPS IN LEGS FAST
To recover from leg cramps fast there is no good treatment present. However there are various tactics suggested in the old days which includes eating bananas, vitamins, or taking counter supplements, yet these methods have not been proven to be effective. A potential drug named as quinine was recommended in past days but FDA has banned it because of its negative side effects.
A medical treatment is yet to come but let’s look at different ways to overcome leg cramps fast:
- Have massage before sleeping and do some stretching exercises
- Little workout before sleeping
- Avoid alcohol, caffeine in your diet
- Don’t use high level of magnesium supplements
- Muscle relaxants medicine
- If you feel low then have Vitamin B12 9
Some other effective methods are:
WHEREVER THE CRAMP IS PRESENT RUB THAT AREA
Put some pressure and rub that area quickly, this will bring heat and warm up that particular region of your skin which in turn will increase the blood circulation.
- If you do not have proper blood flow it can also cause leg cramps to occur, it usually happens when someone is performing a physical activity. For swimmers, when they reach a lower area of water where water is cool enough, it creates cramps for them because they have problem in blood circulation.
STRETCHEN THE MUSCLE OF LEG IMMEDIATELY
Try applying the following stretches at least 30 seconds
- If you get a calf cramp, go up to the pole or wall. Having heels on the ground, place the foot down on the wall, Lean up your body while you keep your leg straight.
- If you feel you have a cramp in your hamstring, immediately lay down on the ground. Have your knees bended and have your feet placed on the ground which will make your back flat. Bring any of the knee closer to your chest and hug it tighter to your chest.
- If you have the pain in your hamstring cramps at an extreme level, ask someone to stretch your muscle at a greater level while you can have your knees bent with and be laid on the ground. Push your leg up while you still have the cramp. The person helping you ask him to lift it and bring it closer towards your chest, with a slight bend. Make it stretch for at least ten seconds and release for at least 3 times before stretching again.
- If the cramp is present in your quadriceps, walk towards a pole or wall. Curve down your knees a little, and then bend your knee. Go down towards your ankle and hold it, while doing so remember to make sure that your thighs are placed together. While you tuck your pelvis, make sure to jerk the bottom half up and stretch it to a greater extent.
HAVE A WARM SHOWER
The hot water bath will increase the blood circulation which will make the cramp go away more easily and quickly. If you have a severe pain in which you cannot stand and take a shower, so soak a cloth in warm water and compress it for at least 5 minutes.
WALK AROUND
Living a sedimentary lifestyle may also be the reason of your cramps. So try walking to relief pain as well.