In our lives, we have all ever experienced unpleasant sensations associated with muscle tightness in the calf or foot. How can this be described? Just a strong spasm cramps the foot; this acute pain, which originates from the middle of the foot and covers the area of the toes, can last from a couple of seconds to a couple of minutes. A fleeting spasm that lasts seconds is a simple sudden contraction of the muscles of the foot, but if this spasm lasts longer, then it is worth thinking about the seriousness of the changes that occur in the body and cause such muscle soreness. If the foot cramps for a long period of time with daily repetitions, this indicates that this is not a cause.
This can be the cause of long-term pain in the legs, chronic fatigue due to standing work, and feelings of heaviness in the limbs. It is necessary to distinguish the nature of the occurrence of such cramps: as a result of wearing tight shoes or hypothermia of the feet, when, again, the period of cramps is short and has a single character, or cramps that begin to occur frequently in the leg area, and at the same time you cannot say what exactly on a specific day they could be called. Of course, you will have to see a doctor. But before that, it would be useful to find out what the possible causes of such an illness are.
At the first stage, it is advisable to start everything by checking the vessels and veins of the lower extremities. To do this, you need to contact a specialist in the field of veins, a phlebologist, and he will prescribe an adequate examination, ultrasound of the veins, and after all this, methods of treatment or prevention. If there is no pathology associated with the veins, then you need to take a blood test for electrolyte composition and sugar, because frequent cramps in the foot area can be evidence of the development of diabetes.
For tests, be sure to see a doctor; you don’t need to buy or take any supplements or vitamins yourself. If a malfunction is detected in the body’s working chain, you need to consult a doctor about restoring the balance, eliminating, for example, taking various questionable drugs, diuretics, laxatives and weight loss products, which wash potassium, sodium and calcium out of the body and provoke convulsions.
On your own, you can spot the problem of cramps due to weight gain, changing shoes with different soles, or increasing physical activity on your feet.
Every person should be able to cope with such unpleasant symptoms as leg cramps. They can happen even in the middle of the night and even during sleep. The main rule is not to start panicking. Raise your torso, sit on the bed and lower your feet to the cool floor, carefully stand up. The body should be straight, legs should stand together, taking the weight of the body. After a few seconds, with an unpleasant tingling sensation, blood circulation in the limbs will resume. You can also pinch your leg or prick with a clean pin and then tap and massage to help direct the blood flow in the right direction. Once you begin to feel the circulation, you can massage your legs at a 60-degree angle to prevent cramps in the near future.
Everything that has been written about before is a fight against negative consequences. So why not pay attention to your feet in advance and prevent problems in the first place? Strengthen your ligaments, adjust your optimal weight, and wear comfortable shoes. Avoid excessive stress on your legs, they, like everything excessive, do not bode well. There is also a special set of gymnastic exercises that will make it possible to avoid the development of such problems.
Perform the exercises at least five times every day, you must do everything barefoot. It's good to take a contrast shower. If you have varicose veins, then the contrast between temperatures should be gradual and not strong, or better yet, just dip your feet in hot water and then in cold water. It wouldn’t hurt to add a little herbal decoction to such contrasting baths. Of course, it is important not to forget about the diet that anyone who begins to experience seizures should follow. Even if you take piecemeal mineral analogues, remember: they do not fully give the same effect as taking them from food. So eat more cheeses, milk, legumes, spinach, red fish, dried fruits, nuts, bananas, oranges and honey. Do not forget about physical activity - from walking to light jogging, but it is still better to just walk, and, as a result, you will not encounter such troubles as cramps in the calves and feet.
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Foot cramps are an unpleasant, even painful process, during which one or many muscles contract. Why the feet are cramping worries those who have suffered from this phenomenon. The most intense is a cramp in the feet, in which a person feels the toes twisting and a pulsating pain is felt in the foot. Such attacks can differ in their type - they can appear at night and during the day, and spasms are also distinguished by location - fingers, calves. All these phenomena occur against the background of various provoking factors.
If your feet cramp at night, these areas of the limbs are very painful, and the attack can last up to four to five minutes. Such attacks can occur regardless of age and gender.
Often, a spasm can occur when the lower part of the limbs is hypothermic. As a result, normal blood circulation is also disrupted. During varicose veins, veins increase in size and their walls become thin. As a result, nodes begin to form, accompanied by convulsions. When the body is dehydrated, blood fluid thickens and sodium levels decrease, which can also trigger convulsive seizures in the feet.
With the uncontrolled use of diuretic medications, the excitability of the nerve roots increases, since useful microelements are removed from the body with frequent visits to the toilet. Also, seizures can appear in those people who have a history of diabetes mellitus; during the development of this disease, disruptions in the microcirculation of blood fluid occur. Diseases of the musculoskeletal system can also cause spasms (for example, arthritis, sciatica, gout, flat feet).
If these conditions are present, convulsions may appear in the feet. Before this phenomenon begins to occur, a person feels a slight tugging on the bottom of the foot. After which painful sensations suddenly arise, intense compression in the spasmodic area. A person cannot lean on a limb; the muscles become tense, elastic, and dense.
If your foot cramps, the cause may lie in many situations. In order for muscle contractions to always proceed normally, the human body needs a large amount of an element such as magnesium. If there is a lack of such a useful microelement, the feet may cramp.
If a person has increased fragility of bones, they often ache, hair is unhealthy and too brittle, nail plates break, peel, this is direct evidence that there is very little calcium in the body. And its deficiency can also provoke problems with the dental apparatus, severe irritation and fatigue appear. If calcium and magnesium are not replenished in the body, cramps will occur very often.
Iron deficiency provokes a condition in which the body's cells do not have time to sufficiently saturate themselves with oxygen, which results in convulsions in the muscular system, including the feet. If you follow a long-term diet or take medications to reduce glucose in the blood fluid, an acute lack of glucose appears, and the result is a cramp.
If sudden changes in body temperature frequently occur, for example, during sunstroke or during frostbite, convulsions may also appear. Due to the development of a cold or viral disease, in case of alcohol poisoning, brain cells can be influenced by nerve impulses, and this can also trigger the appearance of cramps in the legs. If there is not enough oxygen in the tissues and vascular system, diseases of the vascular system can develop, resulting in convulsive seizures. When using hormonal contraceptives, various disruptions in the body can also occur, resulting in seizures.
The body position is straight, legs should be together. After a few seconds, the unpleasant symptoms should disappear. The blood flow will improve and the attack will pass.
Treatment or relief of an attack also consists of the following manipulations - the leg must be pinched, pricked with a needle or pin (this is why people who are professional swimmers have a habit of carrying an inconspicuous small pin with them - in a particular situation it can even save their life ). In order to help blood flow improve, you should gently massage the limb and pat the surface of the skin in the area that was affected by the convulsion. After restoring blood flow, it is recommended to perform a self-massage procedure, rest well, and try to sleep.
After stopping the attack, it is recommended to find out its cause. If necessary, undergo appropriate treatment. In the future, to prevent repeated attacks, you should adhere to simple rules: give your legs a moderate load, this will strengthen the ligaments and muscles, it is important to control your body weight. It is also important to wear comfortable shoes that will not put pressure on your feet. It is recommended to do light jogging at least three times a week. It is also important to adjust your diet to saturate the body with the missing substances.
Foot cramps are an unpleasant, even painful process, during which one or many muscles contract. Why the feet are cramping worries those who have suffered from this phenomenon. The most intense is a cramp in the feet, in which a person feels the toes twisting and a pulsating pain is felt in the foot. Such attacks can differ in their type - they can appear at night and during the day, and spasms are also distinguished by location - fingers, calves. All these phenomena occur against the background of various provoking factors.
Factors that provoke such an attack are:
If your feet are cramped, the reasons for this can be very diverse.
A spasm can appear in one area of the foot or in several at the same time. Such phenomena always appear suddenly. There are certain predisposing conditions to the occurrence of such a problem, among which wearing the wrong shoes is common. This puts pressure on the foot and interferes with blood circulation. When wearing such shoes regularly, cramps may occur. Another common cause of this unpleasant phenomenon is an acute lack of microelements in the human body, in particular magnesium, calcium and potassium.
In women during the menstrual period, the amount of blood fluid in the body sharply decreases, which can result in spasm. Frequent stress and emotional overstrain lead to fatigue and depletion of the body's resources, and the reaction is a cramp in the feet. Often such unpleasant sensations appear in professional athletes, since their muscular system is in constant tone.
What could cause this phenomenon:
When finding out the cause of this condition, you should know how to properly help a person in such a situation, what to do to stop the attack and how to get rid of such an attack yourself. First you need to calm down, calm down the fear and growing panic. Raise your torso slightly. Sit on the bed, lower your limbs to the floor. Thanks to the effects of cold, blood microcirculation will improve. Next, you need to slowly and carefully rise to your feet.
Treatment or relief of an attack also consists of the following manipulations - the leg must be pinched, pricked with a needle or pin (this is why people who are professional swimmers have a habit of carrying an inconspicuous small pin with them - in a particular situation it can even save their life ). In order to help blood flow improve, you should gently massage the limb and pat the surface of the skin in the area that was affected by the convulsion. After restoring blood flow, it is recommended to perform a self-massage procedure, rest well, and try to sleep.
Everyone has experienced muscle cramps or colic at least once. Most often, such unpleasant pain is felt in the calf muscles or feet. Cramps are involuntary muscle contractions that are accompanied by severe pain. Muscle spasms can cramp your leg if you suffer from muscle fatigue, excess weight, or constant physical activity. No special treatment is required for periodic muscle spasms. What are the reasons for cramping of the feet? What to do to cope with this unpleasant phenomenon?
The main reason why legs cramp is a lack of vitamins and microelements in the body (potassium, magnesium, vitamin D). In addition, the following reasons can trigger leg cramps:
If you suffer from foot cramps, then first of all, to prevent their occurrence, you need to adjust your diet. The main treatment is a balanced diet. It should include foods rich in magnesium, calcium, potassium and vitamin D. Magnesium is found in foods such as oatmeal, legumes, seaweed, and greens.
Eat cottage cheese, cheese, milk daily. However, fermented milk products should not be low-fat. Meat, fish, and baked potatoes contain a lot of potassium. By the way, baked potatoes are best eaten with the skins on. It is rich in high potassium content. Introduce cherries into your diet. This healthy berry is also rich in mineral elements such as potassium and calcium.
It is interesting that cherries exhibit their beneficial properties not only in fresh form, but also after heat treatment. For example, in the form of jam.
Vitamin D is necessary for better absorption of calcium by the body. Its main source is the sun. The production of vitamin D in the body will occur if you take daily walks in the fresh air. In winter and autumn, to provide the body with this vitamin, you should increase the consumption of foods such as butter, raw egg yolk, fatty fish (mackerel, Atlantic herring, silver carp).
Dehydration is another reason why foot muscle spasms occur. It is important to prevent this condition, for which you need to consume a lot of water (1.5-2 liters of water per day). It is necessary to remove coffee and black tea from your diet. If you find it difficult to break the habit of drinking black tea or coffee, then replace these drinks with chamomile tea with honey. Also an excellent additional drink against foot cramps is water to which apple cider vinegar has been added in the proportion of 1 tablespoon per glass of water.
Treatment should also begin with getting rid of bad habits (smoking, alcohol abuse). It is important to wear comfortable shoes so that your feet are not pinched in them, but are fixed in the wrong position. If you can’t do without heels, then you don’t need to wear such shoes all day. If you play sports, do not overload your legs.
Excessively intense training will not do you any good, and putting too much strain on your muscles can cause them to contract involuntarily. Treatment is also carried out using herbs. To do this, you need to make herbal foot baths. Mint and valerian have a relaxing effect and will help prevent cramps. After the bath, you can self-massage your feet.
The massage should begin with stroking, then gradually knead the foot in those places where the muscle most often cramps. Use your thumb to massage the point in the center of your foot. In addition to the above recipes aimed at treating and preventing cramps, you can do special exercises aimed at stretching muscles. Exercise treatment is an effective treatment for foot cramps. Exercises for leg cramps after sleep.
You can also do exercises in the evening to stretch and relax your muscles to avoid leg cramps during sleep.
These exercises are designed to prevent cramps from occurring. It is beneficial to stretch daily. Stretching helps relax muscles and prevents congestion. It is also necessary before playing sports to avoid leg cramps.
If your foot has already cramped, then grab the toe with your hands and pull it towards you through the pain. You need to pull the foot in the opposite direction, i.e. if a cramp cramps the leg so much that it contracts, then you should pull in the opposite direction. As a result, you will use the opposite muscles, and those that are cramping will relax, and the attack will pass.
You can start doing self-massage using warming ointment or essential oil (juniper, rosemary). If the cramp does not release the foot, then try pinching the muscle. When the attack has passed, apply an ice pack to your foot or walk on the cold floor. To avoid repeated spasms, ensure yourself rest. Lie down and put your feet on a slight elevation, lie there for 5-10 minutes.
Cramps are especially dangerous in the water. Leg muscles can cramp in cold water even in a person who does not suffer from constant cramps. Why is that? This usually happens with the muscles of the feet because during swimming the muscles simply get tired, since the feet bear a large load. This is why the leg muscles spasm.
And cold water is the reason that provokes spasms of the blood vessels in the legs, which can also cause cramps. If your foot cramps in the water, then what you definitely shouldn’t do is give in to panic. Take air into your lungs and take the form of a “bomb”. Pull your knees towards you and pull your toes towards you, straightening your foot through the pain. Then lie on your back and row towards the shore.
You can also get rid of leg cramps in water by using a regular pin. It should always be attached to your swimsuit. It is enough to simply inject it into the place of spasm. But this method of getting rid of foot cramps is quite dangerous, because you can damage the nerve, and it is quite difficult to do this in water.
If your legs cramp once every few months, then there is no cause for concern, and no special treatment is required. Follow a healthy diet, lead an active lifestyle, give up bad habits, wear comfortable shoes. But if such attacks occur frequently, then you need to consult a doctor who will find out why they occur and prescribe medication.
Leg cramps occur at any age, but they are most annoying to people over the age of 50. Cramps are involuntary contractions of the striated muscles of the legs, which can be caused by various reasons. Contractions of skeletal muscles are paroxysmal in nature and are often unbearably painful.
Numerous causes of muscle spasms are well studied by medicine, are easily corrected, and quickly treated. If you constantly suffer from contractions of your limbs, then be sure to consult a doctor who will help you solve this problem.
In this article we will look at why the legs cramp, especially at night, over the age of 50. What is the cause of this unpleasant symptom, and what should be done at home so that the cramps no longer bother you.
The reasons why leg muscle cramps develop at night lie in disturbances in the electrolyte balance of muscle cells, inadequate blood supply to soft tissues, or neurological problems.
These three groups of causes can occur either in isolation or in various combinations, accompanying congenital anomalies or acquired diseases. In this case, it is not so important what the patient’s age is, since the mechanisms of development of myoclonus are almost identical for children, adults and the elderly (including those over 50).
A lack of vitamins and minerals can be caused by:
Secondary seizures are more dangerous, since their appearance at night can be associated with a wide variety of diseases. These include diabetes, disorders of the central nervous system and thyroid gland, varicose veins, as well as some infectious diseases.
Very often they bother pregnant women, whose weight increases, which leads to increased stress on the leg muscles. We also note that the cause can also be poisoning with drugs, lead, or mercury.
If your leg cramps at night, you need to take several measures to help eliminate the cramp. First you need to stand with the affected leg on something cold. In this case, you should try to pull the toe forward as much as possible. Then you can try to squat slightly, leaning mainly on the leg that was cramped. The spasm is relieved by lightly massaging the affected area.
It is also advised to strongly pinch the tense muscle or lightly prick it with a sharp object, such as a needle or pin, and the spasm should stop. To prevent relapse, apply warming ointment to the sore spot or rub with alcohol.
The main condition for successful treatment is determining the cause of seizures. To find out why your legs cramp at night, your doctor may prescribe a blood test for magnesium and calcium levels, neuromyography, and other examinations.
If your leg cramps at home, you need to massage it, rub the muscles thoroughly, stand up, and walk around. If muscle cramps bother you at night, it is better to sleep in warm socks or knee socks. To relieve pain, use any “burning” ointment, for example finalgon.
When the cause of cramps is a lack of vitamins, reconsider your diet. It is important to eat foods rich in magnesium, calcium, vitamins D, B6, and so on. Therefore, it is useful to enjoy bran, dried apricots, raisins, fish, bananas, and peanuts. Eat dairy products every day - cottage cheese, hard cheese, drink milk.
To prevent cramps in your legs at night, regardless of the causes of convulsive contractions of the lower extremities, it is useful to do simple exercises before going to bed:
After a working day, try to relieve accumulated stress with the following exercises:
And one more exercise option:
During heavy physical work, when you have to stand on your feet for a long time, find an opportunity to rest for 5-10 minutes: sit down or take a lying position with your legs elevated. At the same time, you can do the listed exercises.
To prevent leg cramps from bothering you, you should adhere to the following prevention measures:
It is also very important to eat right and get enough vitamins and minerals. Lack of potassium in the body can cause cramps in the calves and feet. Dehydration can also cause cramps. The body needs water and other fluids, especially those that provide electrolytes.
Vitamin D is also important for healthy feet and bones. Smoking and drinking alcohol can lead to dehydration.
Children and the elderly, athletes and pregnant women know firsthand about cramps. They usually take a person by surprise during sleep or falling asleep, bathing and sports training.
A cramp is a sudden, uncontrollable contraction of muscles with severe pain. Most often, this unpleasant phenomenon occurs with the calf muscles. As a result of a strong spasm, the foot extends in an unnatural position, as if the person is standing on his toes. The pain in this case can be called unbearable.
In general, we can say that cramps indicate an incorrect lifestyle. Digestive disorders lead to a lack of vitamins and microelements, stressful situations provoke surges in blood pressure, and high heels will sooner or later result in unaesthetic and painful varicose veins. All these factors lead to frequent attacks of leg cramps.
In the case when the cause of convulsive attacks is varicose veins, the mechanism of occurrence of the attack is as follows:
The pain of a convulsive spasm can be so severe that a person loses control over his body.
In men, seizures occur with atherosclerosis. Plaques on the walls of blood arteries disrupt blood circulation, which, as in the case of varicose veins, leads to tissue swelling. Smoking, excess weight and inactivity increase the adverse effect.
With atherosclerosis, initially rare spasms during walking become frequent and debilitating, repeat at night and are accompanied by prolonged painful sensations. The development of the disease can even lead to atrophy and gangrene of the limbs.
Severe dehydration can lead to calf muscle cramps. When exposed to heat for a long time, during a salt-free diet, the body loses minerals along with moisture. This deficiency leads to muscle dysfunction. The heart suffers first, and then the rest of the muscle tissue, which leads to convulsive syndrome.
The most common reason for this phenomenon is simple – it’s simply uncomfortable shoes. Another stimulus for convulsive activity of the fingers is hypothermia, due to which the blood vessels narrow and blood cannot flow in the required quantity.
If none of these reasons occurs, you should pay attention to the state of the body; perhaps toe cramps are a symptom of a serious illness.
Foot muscle spasms can be caused by walking all day long or wearing tight shoes. The tendons of the feet contract sharply during a cramp, which leads to acute pain.
Most often, fans of high heels suffer from such cramps. Walking for a long time in these shoes provokes foot fatigue and involuntary contraction.
So why are cramps most often a nocturnal phenomenon? The reason is that at night, under a warm blanket, the muscles warm up. If the limbs suffer from varicose veins, the veins expand even more in the warmth and all processes leading to spasm are activated. As with nighttime overheating, cramps can be triggered by thermal procedures in a steam room or hot bath.
In addition to warmth at night, a cramp can be triggered by an uncomfortable sleeping position or prolonged immobility.
If a person drinks a lot of coffee or tea during the day, the increased tone will prevent the muscles from relaxing even at night.
Very often, it is pregnant women who complain of frequent leg cramps. The causes of this syndrome can be all the problems and diseases described above, but also hormonal changes in the female body associated with pregnancy.
As a rule, attacks of leg cramps occur from the third to the ninth month of pregnancy. The fact is that it is during this period that the load on the legs increases, because the woman’s weight increases and the center of gravity shifts due to the growing belly. The growing uterus compresses the large vessels of the pelvis and impairs the blood supply to the lower extremities.
In addition, the developing fetus has a great need for vitamins and microelements, which it receives from the mother’s body.
During active growth, children also experience leg cramps. A child cannot always explain what he is experiencing, so the baby’s anxiety and crying should be a signal for close attention. You should check to see if the child’s feet are in an awkward position or if they are cold. A tense muscle is hard to the touch; during a cramp, the foot is in an unnatural position. As in adults, seizures in children can be associated with a lack of nutrients needed by the body.
Directly during an attack, you need to pull the toe of your foot towards you, repeating this movement several times. Walking also helps, as it restores blood circulation to the limb.
You can get a massage without much effort. Rub the limb in the area of spasm with light movements. Doctors recommend using a warming ointment.
In case of persistent spasm, the spasm is relieved by a needle prick or pinching.
After the attack is over, it is recommended to lie down with your legs raised. In this position, the blood will drain from the limbs and re-spasm will not occur.
Frequently recurring seizures should not be ignored. If spasms occur regularly, you should consult a therapist. It is possible that after the examination you will need the help of specialized specialists - an endocrinologist, cardiologist and others.
If the cause of seizures is a serious disease of the kidneys, circulatory or endocrine systems, the patient will be prescribed medication.
With the usual lack of nutrients, to stop seizures, you only need to rationalize your diet and additionally take complex vitamins. Doctors recommend enriching your diet with plenty of foods high in calcium (milk and cottage cheese) and magnesium (nuts, carrots, greens).
Relaxing foot baths and massage will help restore normal leg muscle tone.
It is worth giving up bad habits and uncomfortable shoes, and limiting the load on your feet. You may need to wear orthotics or shoes.
In case of venous insufficiency, it is recommended to wear compression stockings and tights.
Almost every person knows what a cramp is. This muscle spasm can happen at the most inopportune moment, for example, while running, swimming or even at night. Most often it cramps the feet, as well as the calf muscles. The cramp is always accompanied by severe pain. And although it usually lasts no more than 1-2 minutes, you want to get rid of it quickly and prevent the spasm from recurring in the future. To do this, you need to know what causes a cramp, what factors provoke the occurrence of a spasm.
A cramp is a sharp involuntary spasm of a muscle. They can occur in any healthy person, unlike epileptic seizures, which are rare. And common short cramps in the legs are called tonic. They are not dangerous, although they can be a symptom of serious health problems.
Typically, muscle fibers contract in response to a signal from the brain. This is how a person moves. Contraction occurs under the influence of nerve impulses created by the balance of certain trace elements. Magnesium, potassium and calcium are mainly involved in muscle function. If there is a lack of one mineral, the conduction of impulses to muscle fibers is disrupted, and a cramp occurs.
Delivery of potassium, magnesium and calcium ions to cells occurs in the blood. And they enter the body with food. Therefore, many factors can upset the balance of microelements on which proper muscle contraction depends. Moreover, cramps mainly occur in the feet. This is due to the fact that circulatory problems most often occur in this area, causing the muscles to lack microelements.
When a leg cramps, the muscles contract sharply, deforming the foot, and severe pain occurs.
Typically, the duration of such convulsive muscle contractions is short - from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. And most often this happens rarely - once a week or month. There is no reason to worry, since the seizure itself is not dangerous. But if your feet cramp frequently, the spasm lasts a long time or causes severe pain, you should be examined by a doctor to determine the causes of this condition.
The main cause of cramps in the feet is a lack of microelements involved in muscle contraction. An imbalance of potassium, magnesium and calcium can occur under the influence of external factors or as a result of various systemic diseases. But most often, a lack of minerals occurs due to a deterioration in the blood supply to muscle tissue. And the feet, as the part of the body farthest from the heart, suffer the most from this.
In healthy people, foot cramps can occur due to the following reasons:
Any of these factors can lead to foot cramps. But there are a few common reasons that cause these cramps in most people.
Cramps often occur in athletes due to poor drinking habits or lack of warm-up before training.
A person who moves little is more familiar with muscle spasms than others. The feet are especially affected by this. After all, for normal muscle function it is necessary to regularly load them. And without movement, muscle fibers gradually atrophy, ligaments shorten and become less elastic.
In addition, blood supply to the feet improves with active muscle work. At rest it slows down, so cells receive less minerals. This is why seizures often occur at night.
Increased physical activity also often causes cramps in the foot. This can happen during sports training, long walking, or heavy physical labor on the legs. Such loads cause intense muscle work, as a result of which the balance of microelements can be disrupted, since they are consumed quickly.
Often cramps the feet of overweight people. After all, such an increased load is unusual for the feet. As a result, blood circulation is disrupted and muscle spasms occur.
The foot may be cramped while moving due to uncomfortable shoes. This is one of the main causes of cramps in this place. If the shoe squeezes the foot, rubs, or has a very high heel, the blood supply to the feet is disrupted. Because of this, the muscles do not receive enough nutrients and begin to contract involuntarily. In addition, prolonged awkward positioning of the foot can also cause muscle spasm.
Women who spend a long time in high heels are more familiar with what cramps are than others.
Often cramps in the legs due to severe loss of fluid from the body. This can happen in the summer due to hot weather or during intense exercise. Usually this condition is short-lived and after fluid replacement the cramps do not return.
A more serious situation is when dehydration occurs due to illness. This could be diarrhea or kidney disease. In this case, a large amount of potassium is lost, which leads to seizures.
If your leg cramps for no apparent reason, you may suspect a lack of microelements. This happens when you diet, fast, or have an unbalanced diet. The loss of microelements also results from drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking, taking certain medications, severe loss of fluid through sweat, and disruption of the digestive system. Women experience an increased need for minerals during pregnancy. If they do not provide additional micronutrients, their legs will regularly cramp.
Cramps most often occur due to a lack of magnesium and potassium. It is these minerals that are involved in the contraction of muscle fibers. If not enough of them enters the cells, spasms occur involuntarily. They will become more prolonged and painful if there is a lack of calcium in the blood. And a lack of iron causes oxygen starvation of cells, as a result of which their work can also be disrupted.
Women during pregnancy experience a lack of microelements, so they often experience cramps
Some patients come to the clinic with this problem, since their seizures occur frequently and are not associated with overload or dehydration. To prescribe the correct treatment, the doctor must find out why the patient’s feet are cramping. There are certain pathologies that lead to impaired blood supply to the extremities.
After examination, one of the following diseases is usually detected:
In the presence of such pathologies, there is no point in fighting the external manifestation of convulsive syndrome. Only treatment of the underlying disease can help get rid of spasms.
Spasms of the foot muscles often occur with various pathologies of the musculoskeletal system.
If spasms in the feet occur infrequently, and this condition is associated with overwork or wearing uncomfortable shoes, you just need to avoid such situations. Massage, a relaxing bath, and muscle stretching exercises will help prevent cramps. But in the case when this phenomenon has become regular, it is necessary to be examined by a doctor. After all, effective treatment for seizures can be selected only after determining their cause.
It mainly includes taking vitamin and mineral complexes, massage, therapeutic exercises for the feet, and a balanced diet. If blood circulation is impaired, special medications and the wearing of compression stockings may be prescribed. For pathologies of the musculoskeletal system, the use of orthopedic insoles or orthoses to reduce the load on the foot helps. If you have kidney disease or diabetes, you need to adjust your medications so that they do not cause a lack of essential microelements.
People who have cramps frequently need to know what to do during an attack to relieve pain and speed up muscle relaxation. First of all, you need not to panic, try to relax and breathe deeply. If a cramp occurs at night while sleeping, you need to sit down, grab the big toe of your cramped foot and pull it towards you. This will help stretch the muscle and stop its spasm. It is also recommended to stand on the cold floor and walk around it.
You can massage your feet. You need to vigorously rub it, knead it, move your fingers to disperse the blood. Sometimes it is recommended to prick the cramped muscle with a pin, but this is very painful and unsafe. It is better to pinch it, you can prick it with your nails or a non-sharp object. To help the muscle relax faster, massage can be performed with any warming cream, mustard oil or alcohol.
To relieve spasm, it is recommended to vigorously rub the foot, knead it, prick it with nails
If serious pathologies that can cause muscle spasms are not detected, and they recur periodically, you need to adjust your lifestyle. There are several tips that you can follow to help prevent foot cramps:
If your feet cramp, it is not dangerous, but quite unpleasant. Therefore, you need to know why this can happen in order to avoid such situations.