Got (leg) Cramps?

Leg Cramps:  Prevention–Explore causes

Cramps are involuntary, painful and sustained muscle contractions. Camps that occur during exercise are similar to cramps that plague older people during sleep, but the circumstances in which they happen are quite different.

The cause of exercise-induced muscle cramps has not been determined. Dehydration is thought to be a factor. So is electrolyte imbalance. Electrolytes are things like sodium, potassium and bicarbonate. Some believe that calcium or magnesium deficiencies are involved.

A temporary reduction of blood flow to the cramping muscle is another explanation. Fatigue with depletion of the muscle’s glycogen is another theory. Glycogen is stored muscle sugar. A shotgun approach to prevention is the only way to find out what works for you. Stay hydrated. That means drink before and during play, even if you are not thirsty. Some, but not all, of the fluid can be from a sports drink. Sports drinks supply potassium, sodium and other minerals.

Treatment of a cramp is always intuitive. For a calf cramp, sit or lie down and extend the cramped leg. Stretch the calf muscles by pulling the front of the foot toward the shins. Massaging the cramped muscle relieves the spasm.

Before playing, stretch the leg muscles, especially the calf muscles. Stand on a curb or step with your heels projecting off the step. Rise as high as possible on your toes, then lower the heels below the level of the step as far as you can. Repeat the exercise 10 to 20 times.

Shin pain – 3 common causes

My basketball-playing teen has sore legs. They told him at his school that it is shin splints. My husband says this is common, and that my son can play through the pain. This boy never complains about anything. He is complaining about his legs.

The complaint: having lower leg pain in the shin-bone area. The shin is the lower leg bone, the bone between the ankle and the knee. Its real name is the tibia. Shin splints is just another way of saying that there is pain the region of that bone. It’s not a diagnosis.

The precise cause of shin pain ought to be determined. Howev3r, most of the causes result from overuse, and their treatment involves rest and taking anti-inflammatory medicines, like Aleve, Advil and Motrin. Moist heat also helps. And often a change of shoes is required. The boy should definitely not “play through the pain.”

Medial, tibial-stress syndrome is one big cause of shin pain. Leg muscles adjacent to the shin pull on the bone’s covering, the periosteum. That inflames the periosteum and produces pain. If your son bends his foot upward [dorsal flexion] and that increases the pain, that’s a sign of periosteal inflammation. People with this syndrome often have a foot that rotates too much to the big-toe side when the foot hits the ground. A change to a shoe that prevents this rolling over prevents inflammation.

Stress fractures of the shin bone are another cause of shin pain. Again, this situation comes from too much use with too little rest for repair. The pain of stress fractures is usually limited to a single point on the bone. Rest is important. If the bone doesn’t have a chance to heal, a true break can result.

A third common cause of shin pain is compartmental syndrome. The muscles of the lower leg are sheathed by tight tissue, like sausage covering. Overused muscles swell. Too much swelling compresses the muscles’ arteries and leads to leg pain. Pronounced swelling is an emergency that calls for surgical intervention.

by Dr. Paul Donohue