Friend of Julie: Leg Cramps

The month of October has been packed full of conferences and other travels and I'm happy to report that, like our friend Linda who traveled to Italy - I stayed on program everywhere I went! I'll post about my travels in a day or so, but this morning I want to talk about leg cramps, because last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a wicked bad leg cramp.

"The best theory is the “squatting hypothesis,” which speculates that leg cramping is associated with the modern habit of sitting on chairs and on the toilet instead of squatting as our forebears would have done." -- Lisa Shives, M.D., founder of Northshore Sleep Medicine.

I haven't had leg cramps for a while, but last night's was an exceptionally bad cramp. This morning I was determined to find out why I get these cramps. Since I'm no medical expert, and putting soap at the foot of my bed or rubbing it on the sheets didn't work for me, I turned to Google for help.

There's a ton of information online about causes and treatment of leg cramps. After reading a good number of articles, and this isn't the first time I've done this research, I'm taking the route of stretching and taking magnesium to stop leg cramps from happening again. In fact, I just pulled out my bottle of Nature's Bounty 500 mg Magnesium and took one just now!

I divided my summary (below) into two categories: 1) what's the best treatment for leg cramps? and 2) what causes leg cramps?  I hope this information is helpful to those of you who have these leg cramps. If you have a solution for leg cramps, please share what worked for you!

What's the best treatment for leg cramps? 

This is what I wanted to know most:  how to prevent leg cramps. Last night's episode was painful and I want to stop this from happening as soon as possible. After reading a good number of articles, I found this simple statement to be the most helpful:

Simple stretches before you turn in may be all it takes to rein in charley horses. In one Dutch study, 40 sufferers who tried a three-minute workout were able to reduce their agonizing sleep-killers by more than half — and when they did get a cramp, it was much less painful. Source: Bye-bye, Leg Cramps.

That article includes stretching exercises, as does this one:

What Causes Leg Cramps at Night

What causes leg cramps?   

The cause of leg cramps is written about on a million websites, many of which include ads for products. After reading a good number of them, I found a common thread about magnesium deficiency and dehydration. These three article excerpts align with information I found on medical websites:

Medicine.net

Muscle cramps can often be prevented by measures such as adequate nutrition and hydration, attention to safety when exercising, and attention to ergonomic factors. Muscle cramps are extremely common. Almost everyone (one estimate is about 95%) experiences a cramp at some time in their life. Causes for cramps include: vigorous activity, sitting or lying for an extended period, dehydration, low blood levels of either calcium or magnesium, and some medicines. 

WiseGeek

Many people have had the experience of waking up in the middle of the night with excruciating calf pain, and when such a charley horse strikes, the first tendency is usually to try to straighten out the leg and massage the muscle that is causing the pain. This instinctive reaction is actually the best way to ease a leg cramp, and applying a warm heating pad to the painful area also is effective for immediate relief. If the pain persists, the person can take a pain reliever such as aspirin or ibuprofen to help ease the pain.

If common treatments don't help alleviate the cramps, or if they occur with great frequency, the sufferer should consult with a medical professional who can determine if there is a more a serious underlying medical condition.

MgBRIGHT Magnesium Supplement

The cause of leg cramps is a deficiency of magnesium. According to Dr. Oz, Dr. Weil, the Mayo Clinic, and other leading authorities, magnesium deficiency is the hidden cause of leg cramps, and no prescription medication can treat it. In fact, 78% of leg cramp sufferers have a severe magnesium deficiency. Without magnesium, your body is missing its most important natural defense against pain, swelling, tension and inflammation. Studies show that aggressively replenishing magnesium eliminates leg cramps and prevents them in the future.