Muscle Cramps: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments

 

Cramps in your muscles can create a lot of pain and limit your ability to function. There are a number of different causes for muscle cramping and knowing what it is can help you treat it. Approximately one half to two-thirds of people will experience a cramp at some point in their lifetime. In most cases, something has gone wrong in the electrolyte balance of the body.

Causes of Muscle Cramps?

The exact cause of muscle cramps is unknown. Several factors can increase your risk for developing a muscle cramp. These include:

• Dehydration or electrolyte imbalances (particularly sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium), which often occur with prolonged physical activity.
• Standing or exercising in the heat.
• Inadequate conditioning or warm-up before exercise.
• Poor posture while standing or resting in bed.
• Muscle fatigue during exercise, especially after a period of intense activity.

Symptoms of Muscle Cramps

• Dehydration — If you don't drink enough fluids or lose too many fluids due to sweating, you can easily become dehydrated. This can lead to muscle cramps, particularly in warmer weather or during exercise.
• Electrolyte imbalance — Electrolytes, such as potassium, calcium and sodium help conduct electrical impulses from cell to cell in your body. When these electrolytes are out of balance, it can lead to muscle cramps.
• Muscle fatigue — When your muscles get tired from exercise or overuse, they may begin to twitch and spasm. A lack of blood flow to the muscles may also cause muscle fatigue.
• Muscle strain and overuse — Overworking your muscles can cause them to become strained or inflamed. This can result in painful muscle spasms that may be felt only when you are using the affected muscles or continually throughout the day.
• Nervous system disorders — Disorders that affect your nervous system may make your muscles more prone to spasms or twitches.

Treatments of Muscle cramp

Muscle cramps can be treated with the following self-care measures:

• Stretching the muscle that is cramping:- This will often relieve or stop a muscle cramp.
• Massaging the muscle that is cramping:- Massaging may help relieve painful muscle spasms and knots.
• Applying ice to the muscle that is cramping:- Applying ice helps reduce pain, swelling, and inflammation of the affected muscle.
• Drinking water and other fluids to prevent dehydration:- Dehydration can increase your risk for developing a muscle cramp.

You can use some over-the-counter products to help relieve symptoms of mild-to-moderate leg or thigh cramps, including:

Topical pain relievers such as creams, gels, sprays, or patches (for example, Bengay) for mild-to-moderate pain may be used to relieve pain from leg or thigh cramps. However these products do little to treat the cause of muscle cramps and will not stop them from occurring again in the future.

Conclusion

If the muscles are still painful, heat application can relieve pain and muscle spasm. This can be done using a heating pad or hot water bottle wrapped in a towel. An anti-inflammatory agent such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) or naproxen sodium (Aleve, Naprelan) taken with food should help to reduce the swelling of irritated muscles and relief the pain. Heat application and anti-inflammatory medications are both safe for most people however; medications should always be used in accordance with its labeling instructions and/or by your physician.