Night leg cramps Cramps according to Wikipedia: “Cramps are unpleasant, often painful sensations caused by muscle contraction or over shortening. The common causes of skeletal muscle cramps are muscle fatigue and a sodium imbalance.”
Have you ever had leg cramps at night while you were sleeping?
It is a sudden contraction of usually your calf muscle (any of the muscles below your knees or sometimes the muscles of the leg might just cramped up altogether) and very painful. I have night leg cramp for many years even before I went to massage school. Before massage school I ‘ll just ride with the pain and let it subside …but after massage school I’ll try to stretch and mobilized the area. Both techniques involves pain but the later involves less pain, instead more work especially in the middle of the night or middle of a sleep. Sometimes I will feel the pain even a few days later due to the contractions. I asked all my instructors what was the cause of night leg cramps but couldn’t find an answer.
Causes of night leg cramps
- Dehydration – not enough fluid in your body
- Overused your muscles
- Potassium insufficiency
- Sodium imbalances
- Side effect from other medication
Suggested things to do to get rid of pain during these night leg cramps:
- Get up and stretch the toes toward your head
- Wake up and walk around ( I did that but I ended up spraining my ankle)
- Apply pressure on the area above your upper lip and below your nose – working on the pressure points that connects the leg and foot
- Do some stretches before going to sleep
My Solution:
It had been working every time now and I just had my night leg cramp a week ago and it worked.
I couldn’t remember if I read it somewhere or I figured it out some time in the beginning of the year because my mom has night leg cramps too.
It’s very simple…. I remembered my wife having cramp on the leg after having my second son and the nurse would come into her room with a warmed damp towel to wrap on her legs. I was thinking all you need to do is ……… as soon as you feel the cramp is coming and usually your feet is always exposed and away from your blanket….. You just simply cover you cramped leg with the blanket and the pain will gradually subside and if it was an intense one you can gently rub your cramp leg with the other leg, to create heat to the other leg and it will help accelerate the process.
Yes it’s that simple ………..so the next time you have a night leg cramp TRY IT ! and let me know or if you know someone that get cramps at night, tell them to try it.
All I know is I did it and I told my mom to do it and I haven’t heard her complaining about her leg cramping lately.
Do comment!
ENJOY!
BE WELL! 🙂
