Muscle cramps are involuntary spasms or contractions. The cramps occur most often in the leg and thigh muscles, although they can occur in any of the skeletal muscles, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Muscle cramps can be extremely painful or the spasms may produce a noticeable tic in the muscle. You can prevent muscle cramps by preparing your body for exercise and paying attention to the signals your body sends you during exercise.
Exercise-Induced Muscle Cramps
Cramps can affect a group of muscles or all or part of one muscle. The cramped muscle might feel hard to the touch and you might see some distortion or twitching of the muscle. Your spinal cord signals a cramped muscle to continue contracting. Your cramp might last for a few seconds or 15 minutes and it might relax and recur several times before it stops completely. Muscle cramps can return or begin up to six hours after strenuous exercise.
Causes
Muscle cramps can result when excessive sweating during hot-weather exercise causes dehydration and depletion of your body's store of nutrients, such as salt, potassium, calcium and magnesium. You could also have mineral deficiencies because of your diet. Poor circulation, pinched nerves and some medical conditions can cause muscle cramps after exercise. Muscle cramps after physical exertion can result from accumulation of fluid in the lower legs and hardening of the arteries. Muscle fatigue can result from overexertion, which depletes the oxygen supply to your muscles and causes the buildup of waste.
Risk
You are more likely to get muscle cramps if you are physically unfit when you begin exercising. Athletes who begin preseason workouts before conditioning are more likely to have muscle cramps. Age-related muscle loss increases the risk for developing muscle cramps. Muscle cramps are a common occurrence for athletes, especially endurance athletes, and for people who engage in intense, prolonged exercise. Failure to warm up and cool down properly before and after exercise increases your risk for developing muscle cramps after exercise.
Prevention and Treatment
Improved physical fitness can prevent muscles cramps from developing after exercise. You can prevent muscle cramps by not eating directly before exercise. Warming up and cooling down with a moderate physical activity before and after exercise can prevent cramping. Stretching and flexibility exercises help condition your muscles and prepare them for more strenuous workouts. When muscle cramps occur, gentle stretches of the affected muscle and massage can help the muscle relax. Heat, such as with a hot towel or hot bath, relieves the discomfort of muscles that are tight and tense. A cold pack helps muscles that are tender or sore.
Tips and Warnings
See your doctor about chronic, severely painful muscle cramps. The runner's stretch, which is a lunge performed with the forward knee bent and the back knee straight, is most effective for preventing cramps in the calf muscle. Rest is the remedy for cramps that result from lack of blood flow to the muscles.
