Ouch! It’s a cramp!

The cramps “caught” probably all of us. Sometimes they catch us at night, and sometimes during some activity. They appear suddenly, accompanied by very unpleasant pain and a feeling of tearing at the site of spasm. While the cramps are generally not harmful, they make us uncomfortable. Do you want to know where they come from and how to fight them?

A cramp is a situation when a muscle is tense and gives a signal to contract. There is an involuntary and uncontrolled contraction of a muscle or muscles. This situation can also happen at night when trying to change a position, when our muscles are not stretched, e.g. after training, a hard day on legs or a day spent in high heels.

Factors causing cramp:

• magnesium and / or potassium deficiency
• dehydration
• abuse of substances that push magnesium out of the body, e.g. caffeine, green tea
• constant increased muscle tension
• training too hard
• staying in one position for a long time
• may occur together with some disease entities

In most cases, the cramps are not harmful, they are more troublesome.

Unfortunately, they can also be a signal that something is wrong in our body, for example:

• pressure on the nerves – when we experience increased leg cramps while walking, it may mean pressure on the nerves in the lumbar region
• insufficient blood supply – e.g. during atherosclerosis, there is pain in the feet and calves during normal activities
• disturbance of the body’s mineral balance – insufficient amount of potassium, magnesium or calcium in the diet

During a cramp, it is enough to change the position and stretch the area,
after a while the contraction should “let go”.

What to do to free yourself from annoying cramps?

• stretch yourself! Especially the areas where there are cramps
• drink a lot of water! Not only then isyour activity increased
• replenish minerals! Already 100 mg of magnesium a day can reduce the number of cramps – this dose can be easily satisfied through a healthy, balanced diet
• additionally, you can use cold and hot shower combination
• relaxing massages will also help you