Is This A Magical Cure For Calf Cramps?

[audreyh1]

Flexing your toes toward your head works without having to stand up (like when you're tucked in tightly and need a fast remedy).

Pointing my feet down when I stretch in bed, awake or asleep, is usually what brings on the calf cramp.

That's what gets me in the morning recently. If I remember not to point my toes down, I don't get the cramp.

I might be taking enough magnesium now that I am avoided these morning calf and foot cramps.

 

[msanniee]

I feel the cramps in my legs coming on and grab the heating pad to wrap around my leg, calf, foot, etc. stops the crap from completing its nasty self. Have had leg, foot, thigh cramps since I was a kid. Heating pad is the first thing that really worked for me.

 

[steveark]

Pickle Juice

Pickle juice has proven effective in medical studies to break the cramping cycle. Modern cramping theory compares cramps to hiccups. Pickle juice works in 80 seconds long before it enters your blood stream or impacts your electrolyte levels. It simply shocks you and that can relieve the cramp cycle kind of like someone scaring you can cure hiccups. It sometimes works for me but usually not. I get cramps over my whole body from hot weather distance running and tennis.

 

[rick55]

It also prevents blisters. Thats why pitchers used to soak their pitching hand in pickle juice.

Rick

 

[rick55]

It also makes a great dirty martini!

 

[Fynen]

simple cure for cramps

When I get a leg cramp I drink a tablespoon of apple cider vinager thinned with water. It works immediatly, everytime. The positive effect doesn't last longer than 2 hours though.

 

[NanaW]

Last night I had calf cramps in one leg while in bed. Usually I can survive them by massaging the calf gently or when it is severe, DW can do the massaging. Last night the usual solution did not work.

After writhing in various positions w/ nothing working, I somehow came up w/ the following position. Lying on my back with the bad leg bent as shown in the crude picture below(head is flat on bed, not bent up as shown in pic)

..............bent
..............bad leg

foot of _/\___o head
bad leg

Almost "instantly" the pain disappeared........and it happened twice in separate
incidents. The conventional cure for calf cramps is to stand and put weight on the bad leg with the leg bent slightly. I've never been able to force myself to do that for fear of falling.

(hopefully the pic bears some resemblance to the original)

If it stops working drink some pickle juice from the pickle jar will be gone before you hit the bed

 

[NW-Bound]

Flexing your toes toward your head works without having to stand up (like when you're tucked in tightly and need a fast remedy).

Pointing my feet down when I stretch in bed, awake or asleep, is usually what brings on the calf cramp.

+1000

I have not had calf cramp in a while, ever since I remember to eat a banana a day. Not sure that is the reason, but the potassium is good for other things too.

 

[WestUniversity]

I usually eat a banana with a glass of milk and also take a couple of TUMS. No more cramps...

 

[CaptTom]

No cramps since my last posting. I've been careful to point my toes "up" when stretching my legs, and if I feel that muscle tightening up any other time, again, toes up.

Coincidence? Maybe. I'll keep at it and report back if it ever fails. Meanwhile, I'm pretty confident I've hit on at least one piece of the puzzle, if not the final answer.

I can't believe it's that simple. Thanks to everyone who posted that tip!!!

 

[partition1]

CBD oil or softgels and/or magensium

 

[Winemaker]

Don't know if it was power of suggestion but I had leg cramps last night and limped down to kitchen. I grabbed a piece of deli turkey, and slathered on some yellow mustard. Cramps were over before I finished the piece of turkey.

 

[samcat]

Don't know if this has been suggested but when I was pregnant, my doctor said I needed calcium when I had leg cramps in the middle of the night. I don't know if I took them right before bed or at the time of the cramp, but I remember Tums worked wonders!

 

[Harrald]

Water!! Drink more of it. Most people drink to much coffee, tea, soda and juice and think they're hydrating. Water will help cramps and a load of other things.



Before my knees and hips went, I worked out 3 times a week and ran 6 days a week. Stretching is an important part of both. You can stretch your calf muscles by standing (on the balls of your feet) on a step and slowly letting your heels drop. It's the same thing as pointing your tows at your head only in advance.


Good luck

 

[Brdofpray]

First week of August, I was riding in the Cycle North Carolina Mountain ride. After 4 hours of riding, on a a particularly long, steep climb, my legs began to cramp badly. I popped a yellow mustard condiment pack. Leg cramps disappeared before I could get my water bottle out to take a drink. I will ALWAYS carry mustard when ever I ride.

 

[TromboneAl]

Once I had a cramp, and I did nothing, and it went away in about thirty seconds.

 

[RunningBum]

Once I had a cramp, and I did nothing, and it went away in about thirty seconds.

I was going to make a similar comment. I usually pull my toe back and it seems to help it go away a few seconds faster, but I hear about people going and getting pickle juice or something like that, and I don't think I would ever have them long enough to do that. The only time is during an endurance race where I have a combination of muscle fatigue and electrolyte deficiency. The worst time was at the finish of a very small marathon where I finished second, and started cramping 50 yards for the finish and had to hobble in, but couldn't just stop.

 

[kaneohe]

Once I had a cramp, and I did nothing, and it went away in about thirty seconds.

Ah.........the control group. Can't do w/o that. Don't know how long mine would have lasted before this magical cure but even if were "only" 30 secs, that would seem an eternity.

Another data point.......a couple more incidents last night......the magical cure worked as advertised the first time. The second time, it seemed to last longer so I reflexively grabbed the bottom of cramped leg with my 2 hands and pulled toward me. Worked instantly........perhaps I didn't have it bent enough...
angle between bottom leg/top of leg (knee is intersection) needs to be near 0 degrees?

 

[NW-Bound]

For me, the calf cramp always came at night, most often while I was sleeping. Its onset always waked me up, just in time for me to cry silently "Oh sh*t".

Ever since I learned the trick of keeping my legs flat and straight as I was lying face up, and turning my feet at the ankles so that the toes pointed up towards my head, the pain immediately subsided.

Prior to doing this, all I could do was to keep crying "Oh sh*t" and suffer for a long time before I could hop out of bed to hobble around a bit to exercise the legs. And the pain would linger into the next morning.

I have not had cramps for a while, ever since I eat a banana a day. It could be just coincidental. I did not know about the effect of mustard and pickle juice until reading this thread, but here are some articles on that. I often eat a sandwich for lunch, and have mustard and pickle with it. I wonder if that does not work in conjunction with the daily banana.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/bone-and-muscle-health/is-there-hope-for-leg-cramp-sufferers

https://www.cooperinstitute.org/2016/12/13/does-pickle-juice-relieve-muscle-cramps

 

[CaptTom]

Once I had a cramp, and I did nothing, and it went away in about thirty seconds.

Count yourself lucky. Mine have always lasted until I got up and walked around. Didn't matter if I waited one second or 30 or 300. And the longer it's cramped, the more soreness the next day.

I can only assume others have the same experience, with all this talk of walking to the kitchen to get mustard or pickle juice.

Pointing the toes up is still working here. Plus, being careful not to point my foot down when stretching my legs seems to be a preventive measure.

Consider me a totally satisfied customer with this thread!!

 

[TromboneAl]

Pickle juice works in 80 seconds long before it enters your blood stream or impacts your electrolyte levels. It simply shocks you and that can relieve the cramp cycle kind of like someone scaring you can cure hiccups.

Maybe having your spouse shout "Boo!" could work with cramps. Seriously.

Yours seems like the only possible explanation, since many say, "I get a result just seconds after drinking it," and there's no way it could otherwise affect a distant muscle in that time.

Relevant to that:

Results:
Mean fluid intake was 86.3 ± 16.7 mL. Plasma sodium concentration, plasma magnesium concentration, plasma calcium concentration, plasma osmolality, and plasma volume did not change during the 60 minutes after ingestion of each fluid (P ≥ .05). Water ingestion slightly decreased plasma potassium concentration at 60 minutes (0.21 ± 0.14 mg/dL [0.21 ± 0.14 mmol/L]; P ≤ .05).

Conclusions:
At these volumes, ingestion of pickle juice and CHO-e drink did not cause substantial changes in plasma electrolyte concentrations, plasma osmolality, or plasma volume in rested, euhydrated men. Concern that ingesting these volumes of pickle juice might exacerbate an athlete's risk of dehydration-induced hypertonicity may be unwarranted. If EAMCs are caused by large electrolyte loss due to sweating, these volumes of pickle juice or CHO-e drink are unlikely to restore any deficit incurred by exercise.​

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2742453/

 

[TromboneAl]

Another study:

CONCLUSIONS:
Pickle juice, and not deionized water, inhibits electrically induced muscle cramps in hypohydrated humans. This effect could not be explained by rapid restoration of body fluids or electrolytes. We suspect that the rapid inhibition of the electrically induced cramps reflects a neurally mediated reflex that originates in the oropharyngeal region and acts to inhibit the firing of alpha motor neurons of the cramping muscle.

IOW, gargling with it might be enough.

 

[ERD50]

Once I had a cramp, and I did nothing, and it went away in about thirty seconds.

For me, the calf cramp always came at night, most often while I was sleeping. Its onset always waked me up, just in time for me to cry silently "Oh sh*t".

Ever since I learned the trick of keeping my legs flat and straight as I was lying face up, and turning my feet at the ankles so that the toes pointed up towards my head, the pain immediately subsided. ...

My experience matches NW-Bound's - I rarely get a leg cramp ( once or twice a year, maybe?), but pointing the toes towards the head with leg straight (stretching the calf muscle) makes the pain go away immediately. And I can do the technique as soon as I feel it, no equipment required, don't have to get up or out of bed, no getting up to get pickle juice or anything like that, that would take some real time.

If I had to put up with that pain for 30 seconds, I'd be screaming. I'm so glad I learned of this stretch technique 10 years ago or so. Before then, the pain would take far longer to subside.

I also stopped my daily banana several years ago. No difference in cramps that I have noticed.

Here's really odd cramp I've had a few times in my life: the muscle from the chin down the front of the neck. It's just weird (and painful) when it happens.

-ERD50

 

[donheff]

I’ve been getting a cramp on the right hip (side of the glute). It’s messing with my cycling. Anyone have any magic for this one?

 

[kaneohe]

I guess I'm not the only one who gets these. Standing has been the only solution that's worked for me.

I'll give your method a try next time.
...........................................................................

demonstrating the value of this site...........I posted OP after 2 consecutive
successes. Beginners luck ,I guess, since success has been fleeting since then. When I originally read others' suggestions to stand or walk, I thought they were crazy since I couldn't imagine doing that w/ the cramps there and thought that might lead to more injury by falling.

This AM when my magic didn't work, I decided I needed to do something else so I sat up on the side of the bed, put my legs down on the floor and put weight on the bad leg.........while still sitting on the bed. As the cramp subsided I got brave enough to stand up and then walk around.

So to Capt. Tom and the others who suggested standing/walking......thanks,
I've converted to your cure.