Night Leg Cramps

Most people at some time in their lives have experienced what it is like to have, sometimes, quite severe  painful night leg cramps.

If you have had the pleasure of that experience it is not something you are likely to forget since the pain can be really excruciating.

It is a good idea to have some  muscle cramp remedies and pain relief available to help at the time of onset and there are various kinds available.

Leg cramps in the night often strike without warning.

They can jolt you out of your sleep like a bolt of lightning, leaving you screaming in agony, wondering what hit you.

If you are already awake when it starts you may sense the onset as a dull kind of pulling or tugging at first. It then quickly contracts with a very tight grasp of your calf muscle in an involuntary contraction that has you writhing in pain within seconds and an attack may last for up to a few minutes at a time.

They are more common amongst older people than in the young. So what can be done about these nocturnal cramps? First of all some immediate relief might include stretching your foot towards the knee which helps to stretch the muscle out, applying an ice pack or soaking in a hot bath with bath salts. Or you can make use of a very powerful and natural technique that is gaining wide popularity these days for all kinds of pain, called ‘Emotional freedom technique’ or EFT for short.

EFT For Pain Relief. Find Out More Here

This gives instant natural pain relief just by tapping with your fingers on a few well defined acupressure points that are located mainly on your face. In addition to that, it might be a good idea to do a little research on what causes these kind of cramps so that you can prevent them happening again in the future.

In the alternative health field the common view is that a large number of leg cramps are caused by having low levels of potassium in the body. When you have an insufficient amount of this mineral it upsets the electrolyte balance inside of your body which otherwise maintains normal healthy muscle functioning. As a result cramping occurs. So in order to reduce the likelihood of further cramps a simple change in diet could be all you need. Potassium is one of the main nutrients in a banana so eating more bananas could really help a lot.

If this doesn’t help then maybe you need to look further at other possible causes. Have you been doing more exercise than usual and maybe sweating a lot, becoming dehydrated quickly in a short space of time? Some people find that going on holiday to a hot country can bring on cramps that they would otherwise not suffer at home – mainly because they are sweating much more and so are losing essential salts more quickly.

This is a good way to drain your potassium reserves very quickly no matter if you have eaten a banana already in the day and you might benefit from taking essential mineral salts supplements.

Any exercise regime needs to include a warm up at the beginning to avoid the problem of a muscle suddenly going into spasm. Strenuous exercise which involves a lot of sweating can also cause dehydration which can then in turn lead to muscle cramps, so in this case drinking plenty of water would be beneficial along with an increase in salt intake.

Salt aids in fluid retention and so is an important part of any rehydration process. Other treatments that have been found to have some success are muscle relaxants such as quinine sulfate, vitamin E cream rubbed topically, vitamin supplements B and C and chamomile tea which has a both a sedative effect and also a source of essential trace minerals such as calcium and magnesium.

Sitting in one place for a long time can also cause cramps as the muscle is not getting the chance to stretch a little from time to time to keep it supple. Other causes might include the drinking of alcohol, changes associated with pregnancy, diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, some kinds of flu virus which seems to cause  a temporary muscle spasm effect, and as a side effect of some types of medication.

Making yourself familiar with the causes and possible cures for night leg cramps will provide you with a whole arsenal of resources if ever they should strike again.

Many of these can work quite quickly and bring you back to a comfortable night’s rest once again.

The medical causes of leg cramps are many. If you want your muscle pain cured naturally, determine your causes of lower leg cramps but it is not recommended to take quinine for leg cramps.

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