I wish the channel Would address your comment. I know many cases like yours people who get cramps every day and they don't even train they don't even stretch they eat normally , don't have any bad habits for example they eat well they just don't do any sports. Yet they still get cramps every day. Me personally I rarely get them. But I still do even though I don't train or ever lift anything heavier than my phone. For me mostly magnesium helps only if I drink it regularly in that period of time there's no way I'll get cramps even after I do something to try and cause them they don't happen. in my own personal experience the way I see it /feel it inside my body, the magnesium gives my brain a temporary ability to control the cramps and stop them just by thinking the right way or activating the right parts of the brain in order to stop them. But that ability stops as soon as I stop taking magnesium. It just won't work...
This is a God send. Recently off cortisol after 25+ years. Working with PT and massage therapy. Muscle atrophy in thighs with level 100 spasms. I am so hoping to employ some of these strategies to improve my quality of life. So glad to be off of all pharmaceuticals 😢. Rebuilding! Prayers for everyone going through 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
I'm Egyptian student of faculty of physical therapy and rehabilitation medicine, and I like what do you show, and i want to be like as you in the future , thanks physiotutors❤❤
I work for multiple sport teams and what I use to prevent cramping is an antacids containing calsium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. The also consume an isotonic drink with high sodium 3 hours before competing. My teams never experience any cramps during an entire match. P.S Im also a physio and really enjoy your excellent informative videos. Keep up the great work.
Yesss, taking sodium completely changed my long runs. I used to have severe cramp after 8km, after taking chewable sodium tabs I'd be fine until I finished a 15km!
An important area you missed is fascia massage. Repetitive movements in the same direction, like serving or a golf swing can deplete hyuralonic acid causing muscle layers to drag over each other and since the fascia contains the pain nerves you get a painful cramp. The answer is fascia massage. Magnesium is involved in the release of the muscles and a magnesium oil with capsaicin also works for me as do compression socks. Red light therapy increases the yield of ATP and adding creatine to you diet also helps. Sugar is not the answer to cramps in endurance events like tennis since the muscle fibres used need fatty acids.
I used to have severe spasm/twitches when going to sleep or being tired. I also had cramps every night. It all reduced in frequency as started adding salt but it did not stop completely. When I added magnesium my cramps stopped completely. My leg spasm/twitches were still there every night but not until I reduced my sugar and carb intake to next to nothing did the leg spasms/twitches stop. For me, carbs was the cause of my uncontrolled twitches.
This one is really good. I researched this topic in the past due to frequent muscle cramps on my long cycling rides. I found numerous studies that you have nicely summarized in this video. Well done. Much better than your previous advice on the topic.
A swig of tonic water immediately stops my severe nocturnal cramps. I use one with sugar to avoid artificial sweeteners. It's the quinine. A druggist recommended this after quinine tablets became prescription and absurdly expensive.
Just make sure you don't overdo it. "In 2009, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) explicitly noted an unfavourable risk-benefit ratio for quinine when used for leg cramps" I use water with a bit of vinegar, salt, ginger, and cinnamon in it instead personally.
During my college life as a Basketball player (varsity player) our water jag has additional salt during our game as to maintain our fluids and electrolytes balances so i think sodium is a big help for not having leg cramps
Is there literature to support that resistance training of the affected muscle groups reduces muscle cramps? I did not see any study quoted in the video
Best video on this subject I have witnessed, thank you Karl ! I will put into practice some of your recommendations, I have become your follower Cheers😅
I’ve never experienced this until last night when I placed my leg in an awkward position. Immediately the pain was sharp and I felt a hard lump on my calf muscle. I was so worried thinking there was a blood clot. I stood up and tried to walk it off and it was painful but thankfully it slowly lessened. This morning I can extend my toes and expand my calf muscle and still feel some pain. Horrible experience but I will try hydrating more from now on. Don’t want to experience that again.
Also, please note that the leg cramps I get sometimes onset is immediately after the activity, but more often are several hours and up to 10 hours after the activity.
Great info. It all make sense now, when I’m in a low carb/keto diet I experience a lot of calf cramps at the soccer games due to loss of sodium and glycogen, that doesn’t happen when in regular diet with more carbs since you retain more sodium and glycogen.
Thank you for this video. I am very active and sweat a lot. If one is trying to hold one’s weight down and decreasing calories by 400 - 500 calories, they can get severe foot and leg cramps. For me, even mild calorie restriction caused leg cramps. It was especially pronounced on the first 2 nights of a 9 mile day of backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon. It is important to eat enough and drink enough water as both are critically important. We take snack and water breaks every 1.5 hrs. Sometimes people almost have to be force fed, as they are not hungry. I know I only get half of the potassium I need and less than half of the magnesium I need. But, as I understand it, if one electrolyte is out of balance all are out of balance. So, one has to figure out which one is causing imbalance and that is not easy. Electrolyte drinks and powders are too “lyte” for my body. I buy powdered Calcium Citrate, Magnesium Malate, Morton salt substitute (potassium chloride) and Himalayan salt and mix my own. I have estimated how much I am getting in my diet and how much I need additionally per day. For me that is: 420 mg Mag Malate, 650 mg Calcium Citrate, 2000 mg potassium chloride, and 3 grams salt. I mix enough together for 20 days. Every morning, I add 2 1/2 tsp of this powder mix to a tall glass of water. I immediately stir it with a straw and drink 1/2 of it in the morning. I save the other half to drink before I go to bed. Drinking it through a straw helps get the bits on the bottom of the glass. If I forget to drink it at night, my feet will inevitably signal that I am going to get cramps. I get up and drink my mix and it works within a half hour. It helps me fall asleep immediately too. It may be somewhat different for different people. But not being in condition to do the work certainly is part of it for some. I have been with people on backpacking trips who start to cramp half way through the day. I give them some of my mix and they are fine after that. I do a lot of trips in hot weather in the SW, and see many people in various stages of dehydration or in electrolyte imbalance - especially in the Grand Canyon where first timers get scared of the heights and lose their appetites. They can get into trouble fast, so this is something I have had to talk with my dr about and find a solution and a remedy for, as I have guided many trips like this with newbies. I did find that 1.5 grams of salt in the mix was not quite enough and needed to be 3 grams for me. The drink is a little gritty and tastes salty, but is not unpleasant once you get used to it. I don't like flavorings added to it, but one can add lemon powder if they want.
Hey! Awesome video, however I would like some clarity! I sweat a lot. Should I drink the water with 3g of salt before my soccer game, or during? When should I consume the isotonic drink? Before/ or during? Thanks for the awesome video.
Most of the time, when I get debilitating hamstring cramps or any muscle cramps, I drink a diluted apple cider vinegar drink. I take a 16.9 ounce bottle of water, drink a third of it and add back to the bottle until it's full again with apple cider vinegar. Then, I drink about a third of that mixture. Most of the time, the cramp will stop immediately or within a minute.
Interesting video. I tend to get really bad leg cramps after hiking when it is above 80 degrees. I have tried many different things. Last year, I had an issue with elevated BP and basically stopped using table salt. 3g of salt is 3000mg and that is a lot of salt for someone who is trying to cut down on salt due to BP issues. I would love to here some comments on this….
i have cramps frequently and they're one of the most painful things i have ever felt, they happen for no reason tho, most of the time it happens while im in bed getting ready to sleep or waking up, sometimes i wake up with it, screaming from the pain, it's always in the same calf too
I used to have leg twitches all the time, but daily magnesium powder supplements have brought that under control. Now I only get bad cramps after excessive sweating during exercising, and I find extra magnesium plus a magnesium “oil” rubbed on my legs seems to work, but it does take a while. I’ll have to try more sodium and see if that helps. The absolute worst cramps I’ve ever e experienced was when I was addicted to sugar and I would regularly eat a litre of ice cream. I had to stop this when I found it would always lead to excruciating cramps in my quads and calf muscles to the point where I felt couldn’t straighten my leg without tearing something
I have post exercise cramps in the calf muscles for hours, even sometime when I dont exercise, I cant even feel the cramping since they are so minor, I can just see them in the gastro, I also think that this is one of the factors that leads to my painful achilles tendinopathy in both legs. I usually eat lots of very expensive salts during the day, so this might not be my solution. I am drinking Ginger juice all day too. Maybe the Senf Tube is working :D
@@sovietpigeon1364 I am convinced that these sea salts from Ireland and Utah that I have are better then cheap stonesalts that you can buy at the Aldi stores, but of course it is important that it is salt in any way. Salt is better than no salt :D
I get an acute and bad calf cramp in the night after a day standing and working on a ladder as putting up lights or doing a switch board up high, Why and how to prevent.? No symptoms at the time. Then I am woken in pain in a hurry in the early hours. My guess a good leg calf massage after working on a ladder for a couple of hours would help. It feels like it tears the calf muscle of the bones. To stop the attack I try to bend and stretch alternately. It must be something building up in the muscle cells which causes them to all fire off by them selves. It leaves me limping the next day or two until it heals. Any suggestions?
I don't know if you will see this but I have read several comments where the person suffering from leg cramps took a couple packets or a small spoon of yellow mustard. Their cramps would go away in minutes.
The problem with this designed for everyone information is not everyone is the same many things can cause cramps. You could have too much sodium or too much potassium and so taking more will just make things worse. Hair analysis would be needed to see how imbalance do you actually are and I can almost promise you are
