How to relieve muscle cramps. How to get rid of leg cramps: effective remedies

17.09.2023

Involuntary contractions of the calf muscle, accompanied by sharp unbearable pain and periodically repeated, can ruin anyone’s life.

Calf muscle cramps

There are 3 types of calf muscle spasms: partial, tonic-clonic and myoclonic.

Partial seizures are single seizures that affect the muscles of the hand, face or foot.

Tonic-clonic spasms, accompanied by dizziness, severe nausea and even loss of consciousness, are usually a manifestation of epilepsy and require immediate qualified medical care.

In most cases, myoclonic spasms that occur at night or during vigorous physical activity can be managed on your own.

Causes of convulsive spasms

The duration of calf muscle cramps can vary over a fairly wide range: from several seconds to several minutes. Sometimes a convulsive spasm disappears on its own; there are frequent cases of its recurrence after a certain period of time.

Modern medicine divides the causes of convulsive spasms into initial and acquired.

Initial causes of seizures	Acquired causes of seizures
Neuroinfections (meningitis, encephalitis, etc.)	Lack of oxygen (hypoxia)
Lesions and malformations of the brain	Low serum levels of glucose, potassium, calcium and magnesium
Increased body temperature	A, D, E and groups B
Feverish state	Violation of water-salt balance
Pathology of late pregnancy (gestosis)	Sharp narrowing of the blood vessels of the lower extremities due to hypothermia
	Physiological changes in the body (puberty, pregnancy, menopause)
	Poisoning with drugs or alcohol
	Varicose veins of the lower extremities
	Muscle strain
	Impairment of venous blood flow due to prolonged immobile or uncomfortable body position, tight clothing or shoes

Methods for relieving cramps

Usually the spasm affects only the calf muscle, but it happens that the spasm spreads to the muscles of the thigh and toes, cramping the entire limb from the tips of the fingers to the lower back.

The danger of this phenomenon lies in the fact that the total force of all contracted muscles can lead to tendon tearing and damage to cartilage tissue. It is for this reason that spasm of the calf muscle must be relieved as soon as possible.

№	Description of actions
1	Sitting on the floor and holding your big toe with your hand, which is cramped, forcefully pull it towards you. Flexing the ankle will trigger the work of antagonist muscles, as a result of which the calf muscle, which is in spasm, will reflexively relax. To achieve a noticeable effect, repeat the described actions several times, then weakening the craving, then strengthening it. To avoid damage to the joints, bend your leg slightly at the knee.
2	If it is difficult or impossible to reach your toes, try bending or straightening your leg at the knee joint, or even better, carefully take a few steps, placing your foot on your heel. It is advisable to perform this exercise barefoot.
3	Perform a deep massage of the painful muscle, vigorously rubbing it in the direction from the ankle to the knee. Alternate active rubbing with soft stroking movements of your hands
4	Lightly pinch the spasmed muscle, and then lightly tap it with the edge of your palm or fist
5	The last resort is an injection with a needle or pin into the muscle. Use it in cases where all previously taken measures have had no effect. Inject the muscle in a place located slightly above the source of the convulsive spasm. To prevent infectious agents from entering the body, the needle must be sterile. To avoid damaging superficial vessels and nerves, be careful when performing the injection.

Another way to relieve spasm of the muscles of the lower extremities is to press quite firmly with your thumb in the middle of the lower lip for 30 seconds.

Treatment and prevention of seizures

To get rid of seizures, start by treating the underlying disease that led to the occurrence of seizures.

Depending on the clinical picture, the doctor prescribes antibacterial therapy, anticonvulsants or antipyretics.

Review your daily diet by increasing your intake of natural sources of potassium, calcium and magnesium: poultry and fish, garlic, dried apricots, raisins, dates, prunes, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, buckwheat porridge, beets, milk and fermented milk products, bananas and avocado.

Reduce to a minimum, or even better, stop smoking and drinking caffeine-containing products (tea and coffee).

Throughout the day and liquids.

If you lead a sedentary, sedentary lifestyle, spend more time in the fresh air, take walks, light jogs, and do physical exercise.

Dose loads on your legs. A common cause of convulsive spasms of the calf muscles is excessive stress on the lower limbs in the gym or prolonged squatting in the country or in the garden.

Pay attention to the shoes you wear: they should have a high arch and securely support your ankle. Avoid using shoes and boots with high (more than 4 cm) heels.

Perform self-massage regularly, it will increase blood flow and warm up the leg muscles. The main requirement is that hand movements should be directed from the periphery to the center.

Take care of yourself - always be healthy!

fast? What reasons contribute to their appearance? It turns out that night cramps are provoked by flat feet, stress, and excessive physical exertion in the muscles, for example when playing sports.

Leg cramps are associated with disturbances in the circulatory system, a lack of oxygen and calcium in the body, and the accumulation of lactic acid in the muscles. But most of all, the occurrence of night cramps in the legs is promoted by a deficiency in the body of magnesium, which is involved in the transmission of nerve impulses to muscle cells.

How to get rid of leg cramps at home

Cramps occur especially often in the summer, since the body loses a lot of magnesium through increased sweating. It is not for nothing that when returning from vacation, especially from hot countries or from the sea coast, even young and healthy people suddenly experience exhausting night cramps in the calves.

The body also loses a lot of magnesium during stress. The daily requirement for magnesium for an adult is about 300 mg and is met with a balanced diet.

Almonds, pumpkin seeds, soy products, buckwheat, green vegetables (especially broccoli), apples, bananas, and grapefruits are rich in magnesium. A lot of magnesium is found in whole grain products, bran, wheat germ, as well as milk and cocoa.

If leg cramps bother you too often at night, you can take magnesium tablets for 4-6 weeks. To compensate for the lack of calcium, you need to eat hard cheeses, cottage cheese, fish products, and beans.

To provide the body with magnesium, calcium, potassium, it is advisable to consume more greens, especially parsley, fresh fruits, dried apricots, raisins, and lactic acid products.

How to get rid of leg cramps? To prevent lactic acid from accumulating in tense muscles, you need to drink more fluids. Before going to bed, it is good to drink tea with viburnum bark, chamomile and verbena flowers.

First aid for leg cramps

If you have not yet fallen asleep and feel that a cramp is beginning, you need to sit up in bed, lower your legs down and carefully stand up, not on a warm rug, but on a cool floor.

The body position should be as straight as possible, legs together. After a few minutes, blood circulation in the legs and normal leg muscle tone are restored.

You need to take a deep breath, then grab the toes of your cramped leg with both hands and, through the pain, forcefully pull them towards you and up, stretching the cramped muscle.

At the same time, you need to make rocking movements of the entire leg with your hands. When the muscle spasm subsides, it is good to gently massage the cramped muscle until it relaxes completely.

If the cramp in your legs is very severe and does not go away, try pricking the calf muscle with a pin in the area of greatest numbness. Then begin to gently massage the calf and foot with stroking, stretching and patting movements in the direction from the tips of the fingers to the heel, from the heel to the knee.

Please watch the video: Leg cramps

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Contraction of a muscle or several at the same time, accompanied by pain, is called cramps. This phenomenon can occur at any age, but most often it occurs in older people. How to relieve leg cramps?

The first aid for muscle spasms is self-massage. If convulsions occur, it is necessary to intensively compress and unclench this place alternately. Stretching also helps - you need to sit comfortably and pull your big toe towards you, holding it until the cramp goes away.

A medicine that helps solve the problem of how to relieve leg cramps is an ointment containing mustard and olive oil. By mixing these two components, apply to the site where the spasm occurs.

With the help of Aspirin, microcirculation in blood vessels can be quickly restored.

Muscles that are cramped can be rubbed with pieces of ice. When cramps cramp your leg while sleeping at night, you can stand barefoot on the cold floor.

Folk remedies for combating seizures

Many people prefer traditional methods of treating seizures.

Thyme with bay leaf. Having mixed two plants in equal proportions, they are infused in vegetable oil for two weeks, filtered and lubricated on sore spots.

Lemon juice. Rub freshly squeezed lemon juice on your calves and feet, allowing the juice to dry on its own; after two episodes, the spasm stops.

How to relieve leg cramps using a decoction of: wheatgrass, yarrow, knotweed, nettle, cinquefoil and mint. All herbs are mixed, a teaspoon of the mixture is poured into a glass of boiling water and boiled for 5 minutes, filtered and the resulting volume is drunk, stretching it throughout the day. The course of treatment is one or two months.

Pharmaceutical chamomile. A simple decoction of flowers is drunk between meals in small portions.

When all of the above methods do not help, they begin treatment with medications, which the doctor will tell you to choose during the consultation.

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We all know the popular wisdom that says that you need to keep your head cold and your feet warm. Probably based on this, we believe that if calf muscle cramps occur, the root cause is hypothermia. And the brain immediately helpfully draws in its imagination a picture of a drowning man whose leg has cramped...

Yes, cold can cause sudden muscle contractions. Another reason is increased muscle activity. But much more often, cramps appear at night in a relaxed, sleepy state and at an air temperature equal to body temperature (a blanket provides this effect). Perhaps someone will be surprised, but it is under these conditions that there is the greatest likelihood of instant and intense shortening of the muscles of the calves.

Cramps are involuntary muscle contractions due to extreme tension. They are painful, and nighttime cramps of the calf muscles cause such severe pain that a person may not be able to bear it, breaking into a scream. When such an attack occurs, there is no time to discuss why it happened - urgent measures must be taken to stop it.

First aid for night muscle cramps in the calves

Stretch the muscle with your hands. To do this, pull it from the bottom up with one hand, and squeeze and unclench the muscle tissue with the other. Due to severe pain, it is very difficult to force yourself to perform such an action. We must hope that someone close to you will do this if you are not alone in the house.
They say that you can prick a muscle with a pin, but it is unlikely that you will have one at hand. It’s better to try to move from a lying position to a sitting position, grab your big toe with your hand or all your toes at once and pull your foot towards you. After a while it should let go.
The easiest way: get out of bed with your bare feet on the floor (not on the carpet!) and try to walk. The colder the floor, the faster the muscles will relax. You can put a wet towel under your feet.
Some people advise pinching the pinched muscle harder, but this is not so simple - at the time of an attack it is like stone. But adherents of acupuncture recommend pinching the skin above the upper lip and pulling it back with the index and thumb. They claim that there are biologically active points on the upper lip, pressure on which helps achieve muscle relaxation.

The acute attack will pass, but residual pain in the muscle will still remain and will remind itself the next day. To smooth out the negative consequences, you need to massage the muscle for several minutes with a piece of ice or a sponge dipped in cold water.

How can I prevent future seizures?

Night cramps in the leg muscles are a common occurrence. More often they occur in middle and old age in practically healthy people and do not indicate the presence of any serious disease. Prolonged static awkward position provokes leg cramps during sleep. The situation is aggravated by poor circulation and problems with blood vessels. The cause may be low levels of calcium, potassium or magnesium in the blood, a lack of B vitamins, excessive nervous irritation, or dehydration. In the annotations for some medications, seizures are indicated as a side effect.

Contrast dousing of the legs before bedtime relaxes the muscles and serves as a preventive measure. They also advise sleeping in a cool room and not covering your feet. If seizures recur systematically, then let a doctor make a diagnosis.

Source: kakmed.com

Treatment for leg muscle cramps

At home, nighttime calf muscle cramps can be eased and, over time, gradually removed with the help of warm compresses and massage. Gently massage and stretch the sore area. If the cramp starts again, try to stretch your leg and keep it straight until the seizure stops. To complete it faster, pull your thumb towards you. To relax your muscles and relieve tension, soak a terry towel in hot water and apply it to your calves.

To relieve night cramps, try drinking thyme infusion for a month. Take about 15 grams of herb, pour 1 glass of boiling water over it. Leave for two hours, then strain. Take 1 tablespoon 3 times a day.

Next month, switch to linden blossom tincture. Pour dried flowers into a glass jar without tamping, and fill it with vodka from top to the brim, shake periodically, leave for about three weeks. Then strain, take 1 teaspoon of tincture in the morning and evening, and 1 tablespoon before bed.

You can also rub your feet with a special rubbing ointment. Take 1 part camphor oil, 2 parts grated garlic, mix, leave the mixture for 10 days. Then strain, squeeze out the contents, remove the garlic into a bucket, and rub the liquid into the calf muscles.

When treating seizures, you can drink a coffee drink, which is obtained by mixing barley (20%), oats (10%), peeled acorns (30%), rye (10%), chicory root and dandelion (15% each). The components need to be ground in a coffee grinder, mixed and stored in a glass jar. The drink is prepared like natural coffee, and it is best to drink it with honey.

For emergency relief during leg muscle cramps at night, use Chinese acupressure:

1. On the back of the knee joint, right in the center of the popliteal fold, is the Wei-zhong point.

2. The Cheng Shan point is located in the center of the back surface of the shin.

Lie on your stomach and massage each point for 1-2 minutes until a feeling of numbness appears around this area.

3. In the depression in front and below the head of the fibula there is a Yang-lin-quan point.

4. The Xue-hai point is located slightly above the medial edge of the patella.

Lie on your back and massage each of these points for 1 minute.

Convulsive contractions of the calf muscles occasionally or constantly bother almost 8 out of 10 people among the adult population. Because of this, many people have to figure out how to get rid of leg cramps. Isolated cases of seizures can be triggered by certain external factors or poor nutrition. However, with constant attacks, you should seriously pay attention to your own health, as this may be a sign of illness or systemic disorders.

Mechanism and causes of seizures

Cramps are sudden, very strong and uncontrollable muscle contractions. At a minimum, convulsions cause unpleasant sensations, and at a maximum, severe pain that persists even after the convulsive spasm has been removed. During a cramp, a limb becomes numb, and it is impossible to move that part of it whose movements are provided by the contracted muscle. It is not possible to relax the muscle on your own. As a rule, it is possible to stop the spasm only with the help of intense massage or after taking medications.

The most common causes of leg cramps are:

Deficiency of magnesium, potassium and calcium. The normal functioning of the nervous and muscular systems is ensured by these microelements. Tissues that do not receive sufficient nutrition with these microelements become thinner, and after stress they are quite difficult to recover.
Lack of water in the body. Normalizing the water balance often leads to the fact that a person's leg cramps go away, so dehydration should be avoided.
Pregnancy. Often in a woman’s body during this period there is a lack of microelements due to the fact that the body undergoes serious changes at different levels. Changes concern the hormonal, cardiovascular, nervous systems, and the functioning of internal organs.
Increased stress on muscles. Most often, this reason leads to cramps in athletes.
Phlebeurysm. Due to varicose veins, tissues do not receive sufficient nutrition, which is why cramps appear.
Flat feet. The vascular system undergoes abnormal changes if a person has a deformed arch of the foot.
Stress. The entire body suffers from constant nervous tension caused by stressful situations. Leg cramps can be a manifestation of this condition, so you will have to relieve not only muscle tension, but also nervous tension.

How to cope with an attack

There are several ways to help cope with cramps during an attack. Since they are accompanied by severe pain and can occur at almost any time, knowing what will help cope with the pain is very important. You can combat leg cramps with the following basic methods:

If your foot is cramped, you need to use your hand to pull your toes towards you as much as possible or step on your toe, trying to press firmly with your toes on the surface.
If you know which point you need to inject, you can carry a needle or pin with you so that by injecting at a certain point, you can relieve leg cramps. The doctor must show you the correct place for the injection.
If cramps occur at night, then, first of all, you need to take a sitting position, because physiologically, the lying position is most conducive to the appearance of cramps. The numb area should be intensively massaged, and then lie down so that your legs are higher than the rest of your body.
A good method of fighting if a muscle cramps in a public place is to squeeze the muscle with your fingers. You can't let her go until the cramp goes away.
You can rest your hand on the wall while facing it. The cramped leg must be pulled back and placed so that it rests completely on the ground.

If a cramp occurs once, then there is no need to see a doctor.

Preventive measures

Prevention will help to avoid repeated attacks and eliminate the causes of their occurrence. Following general rules to maintain the health of the whole body can be a great help in avoiding seizures. These rules include:

Balanced diet. Mono-diets are especially harmful to the body. A popular option for losing weight is a protein diet. But in this case, the human body will not receive a large amount of the substances it needs, so the occurrence of seizures will be very likely.
Wearing comfortable shoes. The maximum permissible heel height can be 4–5 cm, and you should also not wear shoes that are too narrow.
Rejection of bad habits. Drinking alcohol, smoking, and a large amount of coffee, tea and sugar in the diet can trigger seizures.
Eating foods that improve calcium absorption. They should be rich in vitamins D and B6.
Physical activity and massage. It is necessary to perform simple exercises daily that will not cause muscle fatigue. It is good to lightly massage the area that is experiencing cramps.
Contrasting foot baths. Such procedures strengthen blood vessels and increase their tone, therefore they serve as a prevention of varicose veins.

It is important to monitor the water-salt balance in the body, drink enough fluid - at least 2 liters of clean water per day, and walk in the fresh air, especially in sunny weather.

Gymnastics against leg cramps

Regular performance of simple gymnastics helps to reduce and completely get rid of seizures. A gymnastic complex can be like this:

To warm up, you need to walk on a smooth surface barefoot.
While sitting, you need to place your feet completely on the floor, with your big toes together. After this, the inner part of the feet must be raised and remain in this position for 10 minutes.
The toes need to be squeezed and unclenched. This must be done 10 times in each of 3 approaches.
The feet need to be raised above the floor and performed in circular movements. This needs to be done for 1–2 minutes.

After performing the gymnastics, you need to lie on the bed and raise your legs to the wall. You need to lie in this position for several minutes. Gymnastics helps improve blood circulation and fluid outflow. As a result, swelling disappears and seizures do not occur.

Effective treatment for leg cramps

It is possible to get rid of cramps only with an integrated approach. You will have to reconsider your lifestyle: eat right, give up bad habits, do physical exercise.

Most often, the first drugs prescribed to a person are vitamin complexes

If this therapy does not help, move on to more serious drug treatment.

At home, treatment with traditional methods often provides good results:

The area that is cramping should be rubbed with lemon juice every day. After the juice is completely absorbed by the skin, it is best to wear socks made of natural wool.
During an attack of convulsions, you need to rub the sore spot with mustard oil or plain mustard. Pain and numbness will quickly pass thanks to the warming effect of the product.
A compress of table vinegar and vodka also helps to cope with convulsive spasms.
Warmed honey will help get rid of an attack. It should be applied to the sore spot in large quantities and wrapped with cotton cloth. Keep the compress for 30 minutes.
An ointment made from 5 g of turpentine, 10 ml of apple cider vinegar and 1 egg yolk will help prevent attacks. It must be applied daily at night.
For internal use, you can prepare a decoction of cinquefoil. 40 g of herb must be poured into 1 liter of boiling water and allowed to brew. After this, the decoction can be taken 4 times a day, 1 glass per dose.
You can prepare drops from thyme seeds (10 g) and vodka (100 ml). It is necessary to infuse the product for 2 weeks. After this, the course of treatment will continue for another 2 weeks. Every day you will need to drink 10-15 drops of the product 3 times a day before meals.
Garlic oil helps a lot. To prepare it, you will need 1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped, pour any oil (200 ml) and put everything in the refrigerator for a day. After this, the product can be taken 5 ml three times a day.

Treating seizures on your own may not be safe, so you should see a doctor if seizures recur. Only an experienced specialist can prescribe adequate treatment.