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How to Prevent Leg Cramps
In addition to supplementing appropriately for Vitamin D and magnesium, there are a few other simple practices that can help to ward off nightly leg cramps.
Stretching: You can help avoid leg cramps by incorporating simple stretches into your exercise routine which can help invigorate blood flow to your legs. One of the easiest stretches is to find a ledge and rest the ball of your foot on it while your heel is touching the floor. Next, slowly shift your weight towards the ledge like pressing the accelerator of your car. Maintain the position for only a few seconds and then rest for another few seconds. You should feel a good stretch in your leg muscles. Repeat this stretch 6-8 times on each foot. This exercise will stretch out your calves which is the part of the leg where most people experience cramps. Just note that the ledge should not be too high off the ground to avoid unnecessary pressure on the calves. You can easily create this ledge using books.
Hydration: Leg cramps can also be caused by insufficient intakes of fluids. It can also be due to a high intake of fiber-containing foods which use up our fluids. You should always monitor your water intake and try adding more fluids into your diet if you notice cramps are an ongoing issue. A couple of liters of water a day is a good goal to aim for depending on your fiber intake.
Acupuncture: In Chinese medicine, the evenings are Yin time and so the Yin substance, being blood, is often indicated in problems confined to night time. The tricky part here is that we are not talking about overt blood deficiency that may show up on a blood analysis. We are talking about a need to optimize blood circulation. Acupuncture can easily accomplish this and I have had great success with it. It opens up various channels through which blood can effectively flow to the legs. Having a few sessions of acupuncture from a qualified practitioner may help eliminate the cramps for good!
Massage: Along the same vein as acupuncture, massages can be used to stimulate blood flow and help circulation in tissues that are not adequately replenished. This is due to the squeezing and compressing actions of massage therapy which act like the beating of your heart in ensuring blood flow to the tissues. You can easily massage your legs by compressing your muscles using your thumbs and fingers. If you notice any points which are more tender than other areas then spend more time with your thumbs in these places. These areas of tenderness could represent trigger points and applying firm pressure on them, although temporarily painful, can help release the tension. Once released, you will notice that these once tender points are now softer and less painful. Massaging your muscles is also a great way of connecting with and showing kindness to your body.
Take-Home Message
The options above should help some people avoid nightly leg cramps. For others leg cramps can also be due to mental-emotional factors which you may need to explore further. One factor people can relate to is being stressed and overworked, which locks our bodies in a sympathetic mode. Our body complains when we don’t take the time to attend to it properly and leg cramps can definitely be a sign of this.
You should take some time at the end of the day to relax by breathing deeply for a couple of minutes and thinking of things that happened during the day which you are grateful for. This simple mental exercise often helps people de-stress which puts you in the parasympathetic mode needed for recovery and rejuvenation.
This awesome post was written by Dr. Hamid Tajbakhsh. He combines the latest in Western science and traditional Eastern philosophy to help patients achieve their health goals. You can check out his Facebook page here, or follow him on Twitter.
Sources
Gaby, A. “Nutritional Medicine”, Fritz Perlberg, 2011.
Hallegraeff, Joannes M., et al. “Stretching before sleep reduces the frequency and severity of nocturnal leg cramps in older adults: a randomised trial.” Journal of physiotherapy 58.1 (2012): 17-22.
Sills, Sheila, et al. “Randomised, cross-over, placebo controlled trial of magnesium citrate in the treatment of chronic persistent leg cramps.” Medical Science Monitor 8.5 (2002): CR326-CR330.
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