Excruciating leg cramps, whether they come after a run or while you are sleeping at night, certainly gets your attention. Here are some preventive measures and after the fact techniques that will hopefully reduce the incidence of leg cramps and help you recover from them, quickly, if they occur.
Eat Certain Foods
Eat a couple bananas every day, according to the websites Earth Clinic and I Love India. These are home remedies but many people have found them to be quite effective in treating cramps. This will increase the potassium level in your body, which should ward off leg cramping. Eat a couple of teaspoons of honey daily. This also reportedly plays a role in preventing leg cramps.
Drink Tea
Try drinking red raspberry leaf tea in the morning, which is said to prevent leg cramping.
Hydration
Stay hydrated. Lack of hydration can cause leg cramps. Make sure that your diet is rich in potassium and calcium because these two nutrients are necessary in preventing cramping episodes.
Stretch
Warm up by stretching before you exercise. If you go from a sedentary state to full exercise mode, this may cause your legs to cramp up because they haven't had time to adjust to the movement.
Nighttime Cramps
Place a rolled up towel under your feet while you sleep. This will prevent your toes from pointing downward, which should help you avoid cramping during the night, according to the website Home Remedies for You.
Massage
Massage a cramping muscle in the direction that the muscle naturally moves or apply a cold compress to the cramping area because this will relax the muscle. If your calf is cramping, point and flex your toes. According to Patrice Morency, a sports injury management specialist, the idea is to contract a muscle that opposes a cramping muscle. This forces the cramped muscle to relax.
Strange But Effective Technique
As crazy as this sounds, if your leg is cramping, squeeze your upper lip between your index finger and thumb for about 30 seconds, according to the Mother Nature site. This reportedly will relieve the cramp.
Resistance
Pull your toes upward and have someone else press down simultaneously on the top of your foot that you are pulling upward. This provides even more resistance and should relax a muscle cramp, so notes Morency.
Elongate
Elongate the muscle that is cramping, according to Andy Clary, who is the head trainer for the University of Miami football team in Coral Gables, Florida. Sit down, extend your legs to the front, pull your toes back toward your knee.
Blood Test
If you are hydrated but are still cramping, you may have an electrolyte imbalance. Consider drinking a sports drink that will satisfy your body's potassium or sodium need. Erring on the side of caution, get a blood test done to determine if potassium or sodium deficiency is causing the problem recommends Dr. Craig Hersh, M.D. of the Sports Medicine Center in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Papaya Seed Tea and Garlic
Natural Cure Guide recommends drinking papaya seed tea several times a day to prevent joint pain, which may lead to leg cramping. Try this for two weeks. If you can stand it (and the resultant odor) eat a clove of garlic every day. You may want to fry it in castor oil or clarified butter (ghee) first. Do this for two months.
Other Techniques
The Mayo Clinic recommends stretching if your leg is cramping. Rubbing the cramped muscle will help as well. Put your weight on the cramped leg and bend that knee a little bit. If you can't stand, pull the top of the foot on your cramped leg back toward you by pulling back on your toes. Your leg should be extended straight out to the front when you do this. This will also help if you have a hamstring cramp.
Another technique is to stand behind a sturdy chair. Place one hand on the chair to balance yourself and then pull the cramping leg up in the back and bring the sole of your foot in and toward your butt. Apply a heating pad to the cramping area. Some people find this very effective in calming a cramped muscle although others prefer cold.
Tags: your toes, cramped muscle, This will, back toward, cramping area, cramping muscle
