The scientific name of cramp is muscle spasm, which is a spontaneous tonic contraction of muscle. Muscle spasms that occur in calves and toes are the most common, and the pain is unbearable when they occur, especially when cramps occur in the middle of the night, which often wakes people up and can't relieve pain for a long time, and affects sleep.

The common causes of cramps are as follows:

(1) the cold stimulation of the external environment, such as the low room temperature in winter nights, the quilt covered when sleeping is too thin or the legs and feet are exposed to the outside.

② Fatigue, sleep, lack of rest or excessive rest lead to the accumulation of local acid metabolites, which can all cause muscle spasm. If you walk or exercise for too long, your lower limbs will be overtired or you will not get enough rest and sleep, which will cause lactic acid to accumulate. Sleep rest is too long, blood circulation slows down, and carbon dioxide accumulates.

③ The decrease of estrogen and osteoporosis in elderly women will lead to low blood calcium level, increased muscle stress and frequent spasms.

4 Poor sleeping posture, such as lying on your back for a long time, making the quilt press on the foot surface, or prone for a long time, making the foot surface against the bed, forcing some muscles of the calf to be in an absolute relaxed state for a long time, causing muscle "passive contracture".

What should I do when I have a cramp? According to different reasons, the following different countermeasures can quickly relieve spasm and relieve pain. When cramps occur, as long as you do the opposite, that is, pull your toes in the opposite direction of its force and stick to it for more than l ~ 2 minutes, you can get results. Specifically, if it is a muscle cramp behind the calf, on the one hand, you can pull your feet to make your feet tilt up, on the other hand, you can straighten your knees as much as possible; When the muscles in front of the calf cramp, you can press the foot plate and bend your toes hard.

To prevent cramps, you should pay attention to the following points at ordinary times:

① Drive away cold and keep warm.

② Pay attention to sleeping posture.

(8) Do not walk or exercise for too long.

(4) properly participate in physical exercise (9)

⑤ Supplement some vitamin E when necessary.

6. Appropriate calcium supplementation, dairy products containing lactic acid and amino acids, lean meat and other foods can promote the dissolution of calcium salts and help absorption.

People's common leg cramps are actually calf muscle spasms, which show that calf muscles, such as gastrocnemius, suddenly become hard and painful, which can last for several seconds to dozens of seconds.

Common causes of cramp in one leg

① Cold stimulation. For example, exercise in a cold environment in winter. Insufficient preparation activities; The swimming water temperature is low in summer, which is easy to cause leg cramps. If you don't cover the quilt when you sleep at night, the calf muscles will be stimulated by cold, which will make people wake up with pain.

② Muscle contracts continuously too fast. During strenuous exercise, the whole body is in a state of tension, the leg muscles contract too fast, the relaxation time is too short, the local metabolite lactic acid increases, and the contraction and relaxation of muscles are difficult to coordinate, thus causing calf muscle spasm.

3 sweating too much. Long exercise time, large amount of exercise, excessive sweating, and failure to replenish salt in time. A large number of fluids and electrolytes in the body are lost, metabolic wastes are accumulated, and local blood circulation of muscles is not good, which is also prone to spasms.

④ Excessive fatigue. When traveling long distances, climbing mountains and climbing mountains, the calf muscles are most prone to fatigue. Because every time you climb a mountain, one foot supports the whole body weight. The muscle of this leg will need six times the weight of a person to lift the foot. When it is tired to a certain extent, it will have convulsions.

⑤ Calcium deficiency. Calcium ions play an important role in muscle contraction. When the concentration of calcium ion in blood is too low, muscles are easily excited and convulsed. Teenagers grow rapidly and are prone to calcium deficiency, so leg cramps often occur.

Second, the prevention of cramps

① Pay attention to supplement calcium and vitamin D, and eat calcium tablets or foods rich in calcium such as shrimp skin, milk and bean products.

(2) to strengthen physical exercise, exercise should be fully prepared, so that the body is active, then the blood circulation of the lower limbs is smooth, and then participate in various intense sports or competitions, so as to avoid leg cramps.

③ Pay attention to keep warm to prevent local muscles from getting cold.