Why do you get cramps?

The article is professionally consulted by Master, Doctor Nguyen Thi My - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Danang International Hospital.

Cramps are a fairly common phenomenon, caused mainly by continuous, unintended muscle contractions. When you have a cramp, you often feel pain, even a lot of pain, and you won't be able to move that muscle anymore for a while. Many people still think that this is just a common phenomenon, so they pay little attention, but it can sometimes affect life (occurs in internal organs such as the heart, brain) if they do not know how to prevent and handle it appropriately. .

A strong, painful contraction of the muscles that usually comes on suddenly and lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes. Cramps usually occur in the legs.
Cramps that occur at night are usually sudden contractions or tightening of the muscles in the calf. Cramps can sometimes occur in the thighs or feet and usually happen when you're sleeping or just waking up.

Currently, the mechanism that causes cramps is not known, but according to researchers, you can get cramps with causes that can be listed as:
Overexertion during the day if you Excessive exercise will cause muscle fatigue or injury. When exercising, it will consume sugar in the liver, when consuming too much without adding calories, it will lead to leg cramps.

Due to lack of calcium, magnesium and potassium This cause often occurs in pregnant and lactating people or in young adults (due to insufficient nutrients), causing electrolyte imbalance.
Pregnant women Pregnant women have a high rate of cramps, which is caused by water retention in the body and electrolyte imbalance, the weight of the fetus makes blood circulation in the legs poor.
Besides, women's hormones will change during pregnancy and need a lot of calcium, insufficient nutrition will lead to low calcium in the blood. All of these causes can cause you to get cramps. However, cramps in women during pregnancy are likely to go away on their own after the baby is born.
Due to aging of the nervous system, muscle system or vascular system This cause usually occurs mainly in the elderly. The way to fix it is to add calcium, magnesium, and potassium while adding substances beneficial to the nervous system and circulatory system such as vitamins.
Overactivity of the neuromuscular system When you kneel for a long time, standing for a long time will put pressure on the muscles and blood vessels. Or another condition is that when you sleep, you often bend your legs, the muscles in your calves are quite short, do not stretch, maintain this position for a long time, when you move lightly you will have cramps.
Women who wear high heels all day, pointed toes pressing on toes can also experience cramps in the toes in turn.
Do not warm up, do not warm up carefully, not enough before participating in sports activities or performing activities that use a lot of muscles such as swimming, jogging, kicking a soccer ball.
Dehydration, electrolyte imbalance Long exposure to the sun without replenishing water or sweating when exercising, the body loses too much water and electrolytes. Another condition is that due to the normal lack of water, the body lacks water, so at night there will be cramps. In addition, regularly drinking diuretic tea, coffee will also cause the body to lack water and lose electrolyte balance.
Stressful mood, anxiety Excessive stress can also lead to cramps, it can make hormones in the body out of balance, heart rate increases, blood pressure rises.
Signs of a disease If you often have nocturnal cramps, you need to see a specialist. This is a warning sign of a disease that very few people know. In which, up to 70% of cases stem from the disease of impaired venous system in the legs.
The mechanism of action of this disease is the blockage of blood flow deep inside the veins, causing metabolites to accumulate under the skin, the muscles easily fall into a state of stimulation, producing muscle contractions, mice and rats. withdraw. In addition, venous insufficiency also causes edema of the lower extremities, which is classified as a cause of cramps during sleep.

To overcome cramps you can follow the ways below.
Walk gently with the leg cramps. Chiropractic area of ​​legs and muscles.

Apply stretching exercises to the legs. Take a warm bath to relax your muscles. Placing a heating pad on the muscle can also help relax the muscle or using an ice pack. Always leave a cloth between the skin and the pack. Medication is usually only needed in cases of persistent cramps that don't improve after exercise. If you have secondary leg cramps, treating the underlying cause can help relieve symptoms. In order for rats to not bother you, from now on, follow the rules below:
Drink enough water each day, about 6 to 8 cups, equivalent to 1.5 to 2 liters of water. Exercise regularly and warm up well before working out. Make it a habit to exercise your legs before going to bed. Should eat a lot of vegetables in the main meals, after each meal should add fruits such as bananas, apricots, oranges, papayas, mangoes. Follow a balanced diet with enough nutrients: protein, sugar, fat, vitamins and minerals. Avoid stress, excessive stress, because it can lead to cramps, it can make hormones in the body out of balance, rapid heart rate, high blood pressure. Master. American doctor has more than 6 years of experience as an internal medicine doctor at Hue Central Hospital, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital; Tam Tri Da Nang Hospital; Danang Hospital. Currently, he is a General Internal Medicine Doctor at Vinmec Da Nang International General Hospital.
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SEE ALSO :
Frequent cramps, is it worth worrying about? Causes of cramps during pregnancy How to treat and prevent cramps during pregnancy