Calf cramps on the mornin'

[Jean Poutine]

Hai,

About once every 2 or 3 months, I get to wake up with an excruciating pain in the right calf. It seriously hurts like crap on the spot and it's sore for a day or two afterwards. It's a crampish feeling in the inner muscle. Feels like something is stuck.

I've been getting that since my early teens, like 14 or 15 years old.

It's always the same leg, at about the same hour (7-8am). I drink ungodly amounts of water, like maybe two liters every day + whatever food I eat. I take multivitamins to fight my lolish autistic diet.

I'll be consulting a doctor, but still, lolwut.

[Church]

This happens to me to, just rolls over wrong way or something and calf hurts like a mother trucker, kinda feels like the muscle moves, so if anyone knows please let me and him know cause I'm afraid I'll eventually rip a muscle :(

[Atonement]

I hate cramps. They just suck. I always get them in my feet and legs.

Cramps are caused by quick shortening and contracting of muscles. Cramps can be caused from exhaustion, a cold, and lack of minerals in your body (Ca and K)

One of the best ways to prevent cramps is to eat plenty of potassium. Foods high in potassium are as followed:

All meats, poultry and fish are high in potassium.

Apricots (fresh more so than canned)

Avocado

Banana

Cantaloupe

Honeydew


Milk

Oranges and orange juice

Potatoes (can be reduced to moderate by soaking peeled, sliced potatoes overnight before cooking)


Tomatoes

Vegetable juice

Cramps can also be caused by lack of either water or salt. So, you either need more salt or more water... but increasing the wrong one could cause more cramps... so, I don't really know what to tell you about that. POTASSIUM!

[AutumnDae]

I hate cramps. They just suck. I always get them in my feet and legs.

Cramps are caused by quick shortening and contracting of muscles. Cramps can be caused from exhaustion, a cold, and lack of minerals in your body (Ca and K)

One of the best ways to prevent cramps is to eat plenty of potassium. Foods high in potassium are as followed:

All meats, poultry and fish are high in potassium.

Apricots (fresh more so than canned)

Avocado

Banana

Cantaloupe

Honeydew


Milk

Oranges and orange juice

Potatoes (can be reduced to moderate by soaking peeled, sliced potatoes overnight before cooking)


Tomatoes

Vegetable juice

Cramps can also be caused by lack of either water or salt. So, you either need more salt or more water... but increasing the wrong one could cause more cramps... so, I don't really know what to tell you about that. POTASSIUM!

Don't bananas also have potassium?

[Kaleidoscope Eyes]

It may help you to stretch out before bed. Some examples of calf stretches are as follows:

The standing calf stretch (http://www.foot-ankle.co.uk/lib/tmp/cmsfiles/Image/standing%20calf%20stretch.JPG). Brace your hands about eye-level on a wall or other sturdy surface, arms straight. Bend one leg at about 90 degrees and bend forward at the waist, with your other leg behind you, both feet flat on the floor. Try to turn the back foot slightly inward. You may need to move the back foot back a little until you feel a good stretch (without pain). To deepen the stretch, you can bend your arms slightly, like doing a push-up. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds and then switch legs. Repeat 2 or 3 times. This will help to loosen your calves so they hopefully won't cramp so much in the morning.

Another calf stretch is the stair stretch (http://www.the-fitness-motivator.com/images/calf_stretch.jpg). You can do this on any curb, set of stairs, or other raised platform. Stand on the step with one foot flat, knee slightly bent for balance. Hang the heel of your other foot off of the step, with the ball of the foot planted on the step. Slowly let your heel drop down below the step until you feel the stretch. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds, switch legs, repeat. You may wish to place a hand on a wall or railing for balance, but make sure your weight is on your feet.

I do recommend stretching both calves rather than just the one, if for nothing else than to keep things balanced.

Don't bananas also have potassium?

Indeed they do! :) Perhaps just not as much as the others, though?

[Atonement]

Don't bananas also have potassium?

The word banana is in that post :p

[AutumnDae]

The word banana is in that post :p

:P Well maybe I was looking to hard. I don't know how I overlooked that!

[byee]

Yeah, I get those too, Jason. Always in the middle of the night, makes me a religious man, if you know what I mean.


You're involved in karate or other form of muscle exertion, as I recall. Those deep calf "come to God" moments are the result of some serious overexertion.

Take your favorite OTC antiinflammatory, like Aleve or Advil, and eat a few bananas for a few days or weeks, or better yet, forever with breakfast. The potassium in them is good for muscle health, and drink lots of H20 which flushes the by products of muscle exertion and decreases dehydration, both of which contribute to the cramping.

Also, most people don't realize that they're dehydrated until they get thirsty, it's the brain's way of telling you that you are already in a state of dehydration. The way to know if you're properly hydrated is the amount and frrequency of urination: The amount going out should equal the amount going in.