Muscle cramps can happen anytime and anywhere, during a walk, after working in the garden. The muscle contract with great force and stays this way, most often for about a minute, before relaxing. Muscle cramps occur mostly in the legs, often after exercise in the heat or when a limb is stuck in an awkward position for a long time.
They may also result from an imbalance in minerals and fluids caused by dehydration. Abdominal cramps may be caused by lower back problems or menstruation. Medical conditions such as parkinson's disease, untreated thyroid problems or diabetes also can lead to cramps. Muscle cramps are rarely serious, but heat cramps can be a sign of heat exhaustion. With dizziness or confusion, they can signal the onset of heatstroke, which can be fatal.
Symptoms of Muscle Cramps:
- A sudden tightening of a muscle, with sharp pain.
- A muscle that is hard to touch.
- At times, twitching of the muscle.
- Heat cramps: sudden, severe spasms in the arms, legs and sometimes the abdominal muscles.
Prevention for Muscle Cramps:
- Drink 6 to 8 glasses of water everyday.
- Stretch often, and especially before bed.
- Warm up and stretch before exercising.
- To prevent heat cramps in hot weather drink a small glass of cool water before and after exercise.
- Take 400 IU of vitamin E daily and eat foods rich in potassium, such as bananas, to prevent muscle cramps. .
Home remedies for Muscle Cramps:
Popular home remedies for muscle cramps are:
- Stretch for calf muscles, stand a little away from the wall and put your hands or forearms against it. Keep your feet flat on the floor and put your right foot forward with leg bent, and extend your left leg behind you. Move your hips towards the wall until you fell the stretch in the calf. Hold like that for 10 to 20 seconds.
- Massage. Begin at the edges of the cramp and move in toward the center, squeezing the muscle gently.
- For a stubborn cramp, immerse the area in warm water while stretching and massaging the muscle.
- For menstrual cramps, take warm water baths or put hot water bottle or a heating pad on your abdomen. Try ibrufen to ease pain.
- Hold each stretch briefly, then release. Never stretch to the point of pain.
Indentifying the need of Home remedies for Muscle Cramps
- If you have severe, cramping pain in your chest, shoulders, or arms.
- If you have heat cramps with dizziness or confusion.
- If cramps are long lasting or frequent.
