Leg cramps at night: possible causes and treatments

In the article, we consider the causes of leg cramps at night.

Almost every person has experienced muscle cramps in his legs at least once in his life , in which there is an uncontrolled and rather painful muscle contraction. They occur most often suddenly, while the mobility of a person is significantly limited. Most people wonder how to act if cramps of the toes or other parts of the lower extremities occur at night.

Most often, the calf muscles, as well as the muscles of the toes, suffer from this phenomenon. The causes of such spasms are many. The treatment of night cramps should be selected in each case individually, taking into account the cause of their occurrence. It should be noted that the symptoms are manifested most often at night, during sleep.

What types of leg cramps at night exist?

Classification

Regardless of what type of spasm manifests itself and how it manifests, it can be said that a cramp is a reaction of the body to an external or internal stimulus. Currently, it is customary to classify seizures as follows:

1. Clonic cramps. Such cramps are short-lived, with them a specific muscle group is pulled.
2. Tonic cramps. With tonic convulsions, a rather long fixation of the muscle in the wrong position occurs. Such a spasm lasts from 4 minutes or more, while the limb control is blocked, when you try to move, the person experiences quite severe pain.

Some sources classify cramps in the calves on:

1. Generalized. In this case, a spasm affects the entire muscle system of a particular limb. Often, generalized convulsions can indicate the presence of a rather serious disease in a person.
2. Localized. A spasm affects only a specific muscle, and not the entire muscle system of a limb. Painful sensations with such cramps are observed in this muscle.

It should be noted that the prolonged nature of seizures, their frequent occurrence can indicate serious diseases. Often, leg cramps at night occur in older people. The reason for this is the age of the patient.

Causes of leg cramps at night

The reasons why seizures can occur are many. Among the main ones, it should be noted:

• Increased sweating.
• Dehydration When dehydrated, the body lacks the necessary ions and electrolytes.
• Localized oxygen starvation. In this case, severe circulatory disturbance occurs in a localized area of ​​the muscle.
• Osteochondrosis. With osteochondrosis, the joints are disturbed, as a result of which the nerve endings work incorrectly, which provokes reflex muscle contraction.
• Exposure to high temperatures. This category of causes include sunstroke, disease, overheating.
• Neuralgia of various nature: vertebral hernia, myositis, poliomyelitis, radiculitis, sclerosis.
• Hypokalemia. Hypokalemia develops on the background of a long intake of diuretic drugs, hormonal drugs.
• States of stress. They entail a deficiency of calcium in the body, which provokes the occurrence of seizures.
• Hypomagnesemia. It develops as a result of the use of substances that interfere with the normal absorption of magnesium ions.
• Pregnancy. Leg cramps during pregnancy are a fairly common occurrence. This happens due to the fact that the fetus presses on the nerve endings and blood vessels. It is important to remember that cramps during pregnancy can also indicate various complications.
• Protein diets. Due to the ability of proteins to block the absorption of calcium.

In addition, leg cramps at night can be caused by increased brain impulse that accompanies diseases such as epilepsy, psychosis, brain or skull injuries; reduced amount of ATP arising from CCH, diabetes mellitus and varicose veins.

Urgent Care

The state of stiffness and pain arising from a sudden cramp can be quite effectively relieved by walking on a cool surface, sitting down or lying down while stretching your leg and pulling your foot towards yourself. Shin massage will also help, taking aspirin tablets (it will normalize local blood circulation, eliminate tone), a needle injection of the reduced muscle.

In the event that a person sleeps in a cool place, after eliminating the fit of a cramp in the calves, it is recommended to warm your legs by putting on socks or socks.

Seizure treatment

The concept of seizure therapy is chosen by the doctor after identifying the exact cause of their occurrence. Most often, treatment also takes into account the nature of the underlying disease that caused the cramping. Treatment is usually carried out in conjunction with nutrition adjustment - the diet should be saturated with vitamins. A patient suffering from spasms of the leg muscles, in particular, needs vitamins of groups B, D, E. You can fill in the deficiency of vitamins with the help of mineral complexes.

Drug treatment

Unfortunately, drugs that are aimed at eliminating leg cramps at night do not currently exist. Thus, the treatment of the underlying disease, which caused spasms.

A targeted effect on convulsions, as a symptom of the underlying disease, is carried out by taking vitamin-mineral complexes, because it is known that spasm is a sure sign of a lack of trace elements and vitamin deficiency.

How to get rid of leg cramps at night with medication?

As a prophylaxis, you can take drugs saturated with magnesium, for example - “Baclofen”, “Magnerot”, “Midokalm”, “Natur Kalm”, “Solgar”.

Vitamin complexes such as Alphabet, Magne-B6, Calcium D3 Nycomed, Complivit have proven themselves well. Taking them as a prophylaxis is useful not only for adults, but also for children. Tablets from leg muscle cramps at night should be selected by the doctor.

Quite quickly and effectively, an attack allows you to remove the Finalgon ointment if you apply it to the place of the seizure.

If you often cramp your legs, traditional medicine can help.

Home treatment

At home, seizures can be alleviated by following these guidelines:

1. Periodically taking foot baths with contrasting water, dousing or rubbing the feet with contrasting water before bedtime. Such procedures effectively improve blood microcirculation in the vessels of the legs. The result will be better if, instead of ordinary water, use herbal infusions of ordinary or peppermint, horsetail, valerian.
2. Eating rich in legumes, grains, herbs, dried fruits, bran, vegetables, fish liver, dairy products, cottage cheese, avocados.
3. Regular gymnastics - you need to walk in the morning on heels, on toes, on the edges of the feet, move your fingers, squat. These simple exercises will improve muscle quality, reduce the frequency of leg cramps at night.

Treatment with folk remedies

To reduce the intensity of spasms and the frequency of their occurrence, you can use traditional medicine. Some of the techniques are very effective, but it is worth remembering that all such methods are aimed only at eliminating the symptoms, and the underlying disease, that is, the root cause of the spasm, is ignored. Therapy is best done comprehensively and only in accordance with the recommendations of a competent specialist.

So what to do with leg cramps at night?

One of the methods of treatment with folk remedies is applying a warm honey compress to the calf muscle, followed by wrapping the legs. After the procedure, honey should be washed off with water. This recipe is well suited for relieving cramps in a child.

The next way is to lubricate the soles of the feet with concentrated lemon juice. The procedure should be carried out for one to two weeks, before bedtime. After applying lemon juice, it is not washed off.

Folk remedies for leg cramps at night can be very effective.

With varicose veins in old age, you can use apple cider vinegar. It is diluted in plain water in the proportion of 2 tablespoons of vinegar to one glass of water, after which the inflamed areas should be lubricated with a solution. The course of such therapy lasts 30 days.

To avoid the appearance of spasms during sleep, you can lubricate the feet with ointment made from a teaspoon of turpentine, egg yolk, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar at night. The residues are washed off in the morning. According to the same scheme, natural mustard powder can be used. Important - mustard should not contain any additives, flavor enhancers.

When the legs cramp, there is the following folk method - applying a petroleum jelly. It is prepared by mixing one part of celandine juice and two parts of a petrolatum base. Ointment is applied to the leg at the time of the appearance of a cramp.

The goose cinquefoil has good recommendations . A decoction of it is prepared by boiling in a liter of water four tablespoons of grass for 5 minutes. Next, the infusion should be cooled and filtered. They drink it throughout the day, dividing it into several receptions. Goose cinquefoil can be brewed in milk (no more than a pinch of grass is recommended for one glass of milk). Infusion in milk is consumed in a hot state, one glass three times a day. With this treatment, leg cramps recede pretty quickly at night.

Therapeutic exercises for the prevention of night cramps

The frequency of spasms and the degree of their pain is effectively reduced with the regular implementation of a special complex of therapeutic exercises. If a leg cramps, the following movements will help:

1. It is necessary to lie down and stretch your legs, while at the same time take your feet back.
2. In the supine position, repeat the foot movement several times simulating cycling. Perform this exercise in the direct and reverse order.
3. In the prone position, extend your arms along the torso, stretch your legs as far as possible and begin to lift them up. When lifting, you can support the legs with your hands, while slightly pulling them toward you.
4. In the standing position, alternately rise on the toes and then lower back. The exercise needs to be repeated several times. It is very effective if cramping occurs during pregnancy.
5. In a sitting or lying position, perform rotational movements of the feet in various directions.

Significantly stretch the calf muscles, which reduces cramps, helps lifting the toes to a small ledge. To do this, you need to put, for example, books on the floor, put your fingers on the ledge. Further, relying on a table or chair, it is necessary to perform the following combination of movements: lower the heels on the floor for a couple of seconds and press them with effort; connect the socks of both legs, and spread the heels to the sides and press them to the floor; repeat the action in the reverse order - flatten the heels and part the socks.

If you feel a cramp, you can not wait for her, but immediately take some action and prevent its development. For example, you can pull the foot on yourself with your hand. Such a simple technique will stop the spasm already at the initial stage. The same effect will be if you take your foot back and with your fingers rest on the floor. These two methods allow you to quickly and effectively get rid of a sudden cramp at night.

Prevention of night cramps in the legs

To minimize pain from seizures, it is recommended to adhere to the following preventive measures:

1. Do not overload the legs. This is especially true for people over forty years old.
2. Reduce the amount consumed over for soda, coffee and sweets.
3. Quit smoking habits. Often smoking causes seizures.
4. Saturate your diet with foods rich in magnesium and potassium.
5. Regularly carry out rubbing and doing gymnastics (contraindicated in severe varicose veins).
6. Every evening, take foot baths with contrasting water.
7. Try to avoid stressful situations. This is most relevant for people over fifty years old.

conclusions

Cramps in the lower extremities are a very painful and unpleasant phenomenon that causes a lot of discomfort at night. Normal sleep is disturbed, lack of sleep and a feeling of weakness appear, working capacity drops, immunity suffers. Performing primitive physical exercises and following a simple diet will reduce the frequency of seizures, their pain, or get rid of them altogether. If cramping occurs regularly, and simple actions do not help, it is better to consult a competent specialist who will study the anamnesis, identify the root cause of cramping and prescribe the appropriate treatment. It is worth remembering that cramps can be one of the first symptoms of serious illness. Timely attention to such a symptom will allow not only to get rid of it, but also to eliminate the cause of the appearance.

We examined the remedies for leg cramps at night.