What is the cause of leg cramp? How to relieve it
Sihaiwang: in daily life, it is inevitable to encounter leg or foot cramps occasionally. There are many reasons for the cramps. Most leg cramps are caused by calcium deficiency, cold and local neurovascular compression. How to deal with leg cramps in life? Let's have a look!
Common causes of cramps in life include:
1. Electrolyte imbalance
2. Excessive exercise
3. Drugs (e.g. high blood pressure drugs such as diuretics may also cause cramps)
4. Vascular problems in the middle-aged and elderly may also lead to cramps, especially in patients with varicose veins when the blood circulation of the lower extremities is poor.
5. Spinal stenosis
Under what conditions is it easy to cramp?
In sports, running, cycling and swimming are all the most prone to cramps, especially in the recent domestic cycling fever, knights should pay more attention to prevent cramps. Take cycling as an example, because cycling is an isometric movement of the legs. If the distance suddenly increases a lot, or if the speed is too fast, riding on a steep slope, it may cause cramps.
Many riders usually ride about 50 kilometers a day, but when they come to the race, they may have to ride 180 kilometers at a time, which can easily cause cramps due to muscle fatigue. This can also happen during running and swimming. If the distance between running and swimming suddenly increases a lot, cramps will also occur.
In addition, when the weather is hot, if you sweat a lot, you may have cramps if you don't add enough water or electrolyte; in swimming, if you don't warm up and go into the water too fast, because the temperature changes rapidly, you may also have cramps. Usually when the body temperature and the outside temperature difference of more than 7 degrees Celsius, and suddenly contact, will happen cramps.
Self solution of occurrence of cramp
1. In case of cramp, the first step is to stop the activity immediately. If you continue to exercise, it will cause serious damage to the muscles.
2. Local ice application and massage may also relieve cramps.
3. Supplement water and electrolyte, use electrolyte tablets or drink sports drinks to relieve cramps.
4. Stretching: according to the different parts of the cramps, the methods of relieving them are different, but in principle, they are all stretching in the opposite direction of contracting muscles.
The following are the relief methods for the common 7 areas prone to cramps:
[leg cramp]: most of it occurs in the gastrocnemius muscle. At this time, you can use your hand to hold the knee joint, and the other hand to pull the foot hard to make the gastrocnemius muscle as straight as possible, and then massage until it recovers.
[cramp in front of thigh (quadriceps femoris): gently grasp the ankle, bend the lower leg back, and straighten the cramp in front of thigh. In fact, the easiest way to improve is to squat down and land on your feet, just like practicing toad skill, but remember that when you want to stand, you need to hook your head, bow to the back of a cat, and stand up slowly.
[back of thigh cramp]: try to approach the leg to the face as much as possible, such as bending down but keeping the knee joint straight, so that the back of the thigh can be extended.
[finger cramp]: clench your fist, open it quickly, and press your finger back. Do this repeatedly until it recovers.
[palm cramp]: cross the fingers that meet the two palms, and then turn the palm back to stretch outwards; or use the other hand to hold the cramped palm and bend the fingers backward until they recover.
[upper arm cramp]: clench the fist and then bend the elbow, make the forearm close to the upper arm, then stretch it hard, and continue this action until it recovers.
[toe cramp]: you can hold the cramped toe with your hand, stretch it in the opposite direction, or press the cramped toe against the heel of the other foot, and then press the toe with the heel.
Prevention of cramps
In the face of cramps, it is the most important to know how to prevent them. Prevention methods include:
1. Warm up before exercise and strengthen the action of lacing.
2. Water supplement: drink 1000C. C. water half an hour before a large amount of exercise, and add 150 ~ 250C. C. water every 15 minutes during exercise, and properly supplement sodium (salt) and electrolytic water at the same time of water supplement, which can make potassium and sodium balance in the body.
3. Good exercise plan
In addition, try to avoid standing for a long time in daily life. When you sleep at night, you can elevate your legs to promote blood circulation. You can also wear elastic socks on weekdays to achieve the prevention effect.