Leg cramps, also known as "charley horses," are the sudden, painful contraction of a muscle, usually the calf. They often strike at night and can jerk you out of a sound sleep and cause you to writhe in pain until you can get your leg stretched out and your foot flexed to where the cramp eases. The cramps can be triggered by any number of things--from prescription medicine to a poorly designed shoe. Some medical professionals say the mineral magnesium might help prevent the cramps, but the mineral's effectiveness has not been conclusively proven by research.
What Causes Nighttime Leg Cramps?
Leg cramps in bed, or nocturnal leg cramps, often arrive after a day in which you vigorously exercised or stood all day on a concrete floor. Circulatory problems, diabetes and thyroid disease can also cause leg cramps. More than two-thirds of people older than 50 have experienced leg cramps. Leg cramps are common in people with cirrhosis. Many medications, such as diuretics, cause leg cramps.
How Can You Prevent Them?
Experts at Tufts University recommend leg-cramp sufferers drink six to eight glasses of water a day. Pregnant women should take nonposphate calcium supplements. You can also stretch your calves well before bed to reduce the risk of cramps. Keep your covers loose so your toes and feet don't have to point, which can trigger a cramp.
Relevant Studies
Medical advice on whether magnesium helps prevent nocturnal leg cramps varies. According to the University of Missouri Outreach and Extension, supplements such as calcium, vitamin E, magnesium and potassium are "often thought" to help leg cramps, but there is no scientific proof that they work. A study reported in the journal "Neurology" didn't find any improvement in nocturnal leg cramp problems when patients were given magnesium citrate or magnesium sulfate.
Advice on Magnesium
Experts at the Louisville Medical School "prefer" leg cramp sufferers take mineral supplements for zinc, magnesium and calcium rather than another purported cure --quinine. Other experts recommend a diet that provides plenty of vitamin A, vitamin E, calcium, magnesium and potassium. The University of Maryland Medical Center, citing "some small studies," says magnesium citrate or magnesium lactate may provide some help to leg-cramp sufferers.
Foods That are Recommended
Experts at Stanford University recommend you eat bananas, tomatoes, potatoes and other foods rich in potassium. Some professional football players swear that drinking a little pickle juice in hot weather will prevent muscle cramps. That's because profuse sweating will drain your blood of salt, known as electrolytes, and pickle juice, they say, replaces those electrolytes. Experts at Vanderbilt University say more research on pickle juice is needed, however.
References
- Vanderbilt University: Pickle Juice: Food Fad or Fool Proof Fix?
- University of Missouri Outreach and Extension: Put an End to Leg Cramps
- University of Maryland Medical Center: Managing Nocturnal Leg Cramps
- Stanford University: What are nocturnal leg cramps?
- Tufts University: Nocturnal Leg Cramps
- Louisville Medical School: General Recommendations for Patients with Advanced Cirrhosis
