Re: Re: Nocturnal Leg Cramps

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

> > In article <1…@sunybcs.UUCP> colo…@sunybcs.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) writes:
> > >Nobody seems to have responded yet, or is my news feed down again?  Anyway,
> > >Charley Horse … The only treatment I know of is to point your toes, which
> > >makes it hurt worse but only temporarily.

> > How odd, I recieved the opposite advice: I was told, as a child, to jump out
> > of bed and gently but firmly *put weight* on the foot/leg.  This stretches
> > the cramped muscle (mine were always in the back of the leg, and still are),
> > the opposite of pointing the toes, which minimizes pulling on the cramp.

> well pointing the toes doesnt sound too good, it would tense up the muscle
> which is already in pain from being tensed.  stretching out the muscle
> sounds a lot better.  i think the theory is good, but i personally have
> found it incredibly painful.  my method is to massage the muscle.
> when it relaxes i have to be careful not to tense it at all for a few minutes
> or it will start spasming again.  this is when stretching it by (trying to)
> stand up helps me.
> i think the original quesition was not what to do once this occurs –
> everybody figures out SOMETHING to do pretty darn quick- but rather how
> to prevent it from recurring.  nobody has really rebuted my statement that
> in most (?) people a mineral deficiency is to blame.

When I was younger, I was getting nocturnal leg cramps about once
a week (which I assume is fairly often) but only during the
summer months (much less frequently during the winter).
Curiously enough, the cramps disappeared after I joined my
high school track team.  Since my diet hadn’t changed I assumed
(and still do) that this was due to the stretching exercises that
preceded my track workouts.  The problem has never surfaced
again.  This assumption is totally empirical based on a sample of 1.

Lee Vallone             AT&T Information Systems    Merlin
{… ihnp4, mtuxo}!mtsbb!lav

One Response to “Re: Re: Nocturnal Leg Cramps”

  1. admin says:

            night craps in the legs are no stranger to me…  the only thing i
            have found that works well for me is to GET UP nad walk around
            until the pain stops.  if i’m not too tired i will stay up
            and read or watch tv for an hour or two and then go back to bed.
            if the pain was or is bad i pay my wife the honor of not going back
            to our bed so that i can get into a different condition and not
            wake her up all night with tossing and turning.

            the origin of the problem was a sking accident i had in high school
            that resulted in tendon and muscle damage to both knees.  the usual
            route for pain to occur is unusual stress on the knees and/or
            extreme weather changes that cause pain in the knees anywhere
            from a dull ache to (rarely) sharp shooting pains.  this pain causes
            the leg muscles to stiffen and i end up with cramps.

            i reccomend two things for this.
            1) sleep in a different place or position.
            2) SCOTCH!

            ihnp4!mb2c!ccd700!eed092!ron
            ron tribble

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.