A sudden, sharp contraction of the muscles---a cramp---can cause intense pain and immobility. Exercise, dehydration, muscle fatigue, certain medications or disease can cause these muscle spasms. Whatever their cause, loosening the muscle can help relieve your pain and allow you to move freely again.
Massage
Massage therapy can help loosen muscle spasms. Swedish massage uses a combination of long strokes and deep pressure to relax muscles and ease spasms. Massage warms the muscles and increases blood circulation to the painful area, plus promotes an overall feeling of relaxation.
Heat or Cold
The Mayo Clinic.com suggests cold packs or hot packs for treating muscle spasms. Some spasms respond best to cold and some to heat. Apply the cold or hot pack for twenty minutes at a time, being careful to protect the skin from burning or freezing. If heat seems to help most, you can take a hot bath or soak in a hot tub.
Stretching
Gentle stretching can help to relax cramping muscles. Dr. Stephen Ludwig, Chief of Spine Surgery for the University of Maryland Medical Center, recommends a regular program of stretching and exercise to help prevent muscle spasms in the back.
Medications and Vitamins
Anti-inflammatory medications, like aspirin and ibuprophen, can help relieve the pain of muscle spasms as well as reduce the inflammation that can cause spasms in the first place. Muscle relaxers such as Soma, Flexeril or Skelaxin inhibit the mechanism that causes cramping. These medications can cause drowsiness, so your physician may prescribe them to be taken only at night. However, low levels of some vitamins and minerals, including potassium and calcium, have been linked to muscle cramping, especially when it occurs at night---so you might try taking a good daily multivitamin for a couple of weeks before resorting to medications.
