Muscle Cramps: Causes, Prevention and Tips

What is a muscle spasm?

Muscle spasms are brief and involuntary muscle contractions. This contraction causes stiffness in the muscle, causing immobilization for a few seconds. The consequence is, in some cases severe and sudden pain is always unpleasant.

Image Source: Wikipedia (By Steven Pisano)

What Causes Muscle Cramps?

The origin of muscle cramps is controversial because it has not yet found scientific evidence to ensure 100% why they occur. There are several theories about the emergence of these sudden tightening of the muscles, but has not yet reached a consensus. According to several theories Muscle spasm can occur for various reasons, such as disease (hypothyroidism, renal failure, alcoholism ...) for use of certain drugs, or engaging in physical exercise.

                 According to a recent study published in British journal of Sport Medicine:
The causes of Muscle cramps are dehydration, lack of electrolytes and altered neuromuscular control.

How to prevent muscle spasms?

As prevention is easier than cure, the best we can do is take steps to get rid from those annoying muscle cramps, whatever their cause is.

The first advice would be to stay properly hydrated before, during and after exercise. Beyond the issue of cramps, proper hydration is vital when it comes to improving our performance and to train safely.

If the cause of the cramps is lack of electrolytes, we could fix it by eating foods rich in calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium, such as vegetables, and nuts.

In the case of motor neuron dysfunction, the best remedy is to stretch effectively after our training: stretching will help to improve communication between the brain and the proprioceptive sensory receptors, making them work more efficiently in future training sessions.

Adopt comfortable and relaxed posture in bed to sleep.

Tips to get rid of Muscle spasms:

We can get rid of cramps and try to ease the pain by following these tips:

Keep the area at rest, without exposing more movements, and wait patiently without getting nervous.

Massage gently in the opposite direction to the course of pain to achieve muscle relaxation.

Apply heat to the painful area.

Place a bandage around the cramp area to reduce pain. Not too tightly so that no swelling occurs.



You can read more about Muscle Cramps on

Healthline: How to Stop Leg Muscle Cramps

Webmd: How can you stop a muscle cramp when it happens?

EmedicineHealth: Muscle Cramps Treatment