Though you may get cramps through indigestion or when your muscles tense in the cold, a muscle cramp is simply a sudden and involuntary contraction of one or more of your muscles. Muscle cramps are generally harmless and probably won’t heavily affect your body, but through the duration of the cramp, you might feel like it’s physically impossible to use the muscle that is affected.
Muscle cramps are brought on by long periods of physical labor or prolonged exercise; interestingly enough, you are most likely to get a muscle cramp in warmer weather. Some medications may also cause muscle cramps, but there is no need for alarm.
The most common area where you might be experiencing muscle cramps is in your lower body, especially in your calves. In addition to sudden, sharp pain, you may also feel like you have a rock in your leg. This sensation occurs when the muscle tissue beneath your skin tenses up and feels like a rock.
Causes
As previously mentioned, prolonged exercise or strenuous physical behavior can bring on a muscle cramp. However, the exact causes of muscle cramps have yet to be found, and may even be related to underlying conditions. Some of these conditions may include:
Inadequate blood supply – Narrowing of the arteries that deliver blood to your legs can produce pain when you exercise. These usually go away when you stop exercising.
Nerve compression – Compression of your spinal nerves can also give you cramp-like pain in your legs.
Mineral depletion – Did your mother ever tell you to eat more bananas before exercising to avoid a Charlie horse? Well she was right to tell you so. A deficiency of potassium, calcium or magnesium in your diet can cause leg cramps. Diuretics, medicine used for high blood pressure can deplete these minerals as well.
Treating Your Muscle Cramps
Muscle cramps tend to go just as quickly as they come, so waiting it out is probably your best bet. Muscle cramps are rarely serious enough that you have to see a doctor, but if you experience these symptoms, you may want to seek professional help:
- Swelling, redness or changes in the skin tone
- Extreme muscle weakness for a prolonged period of time
- Cramps happening frequently
- The cramp does not cease with at-home care
- The cramp is not related to any obvious cause, like exercise.
Stretching is a great, easy and inexpensive way to treat your cramps as they come. You may see athletes (or you may remember when you were one yourself) that tend to abruptly stop their activity and lie down in order to stretch out their legs. This abrupt stretching is a good indication that they are experiencing a quick cramp. Stretching the muscle will allow it to release, helping it to eventually return to normal. Staying hydrated is a great way to help stop the cramps from coming on in the first place.
Those who experience trouble sleeping due to frequent cramping during the night may have their doctors prescribe a muscle relaxant to them. This, in turn will help them sleep through the night soundly.
