Muscle Cramps: How to Prevent and Relieve Them

Do you find yourself suddenly besieged by an unpleasant muscle cramp at the least expected moment? Whether it happens during training or while lounging on the couch, you’d likely do anything in that moment to make the pain vanish immediately. It’s no wonder, as cramps can be intensely painful and sometimes last longer than just a few seconds.

These muscle contractions, in which the muscles seem to take on a life of their own, are common even in healthy individuals. They can be particularly troublesome for athletes and active people who perform demanding tasks and whose muscles are working at full speed. Then, as a rescue, people often opt for a dose of magnesium or some light stretching of the shortened muscle. Is this the right thing to do? Which methods will help you get rid of muscle cramps and how to prevent them? We will discuss these options further in the article.

What Are Cramps?

That unexpected, intense pain in a muscle that strikes like a bolt from the blue is something most of you have likely experienced. Cramps are painful, uncontrollable, and sudden muscle contractions that can last several seconds, minutes, or even hours. Without any warning, entire muscle groups, a single muscle, or even just individual muscle fibres can contract in this manner. Muscles commonly behave this way even in healthy individuals, typically those who are physically active. Cramps affect both professional and recreational athletes alike. They also occur in connection with various medical conditions. ^[1]

What types of cramps are there?

Although it might not seem so at first glance, not all cramps are the same. They are divided into three main groups, each potentially originating from a different part of the body. The methods to manage them can also vary.

Basic types of cramps:

• Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps (EAMC): These occur during or after physical activity and are quite common among athletes. Research shows that around 67% of triathletes or 18–70% of marathon runners and cyclists regularly experience muscle cramps. Even when footballers stretch each other’s leg muscles during a match, the goal is to relieve a teammate’s unpleasant calf or thigh cramp, possibly while also buying some valuable time. The causes of these cramps typically fall into two categories, which we’ll discuss in the following paragraphs. ^[1]
• Cramps Associated with Medical Conditions: These can vary widely, depending on the specific health issue. Painful muscle contractions may occur with neuropathies (nerve function disorders), metabolic diseases, cirrhosis, end-stage renal disease, and more. If cramps are related to a medical condition, they should definitely be addressed by a doctor who can determine their cause or prescribe muscle relaxants (myorelaxants). ^[1]
• Nocturnal Cramps: These often occur uncontrollably during sleep for no known reason, commonly affecting the leg muscles, particularly the calves. Prevention can include stretching, massage, adequate magnesium intake, or even simple walking. If they are frequent and difficult to alleviate, it’s worth discussing them with a doctor. ^[1,5]

Other types of cramps:

• Pregnancy Cramps: These are quite common during pregnancy, often due to digestive issues and are generally not serious. However, a woman experiencing cramps should discuss them with her doctor.
• Menstrual Cramps: These manifest as unpleasant abdominal cramps during premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Besides warm compresses, magnesium intake can help reduce their intensity.
• Cramps in the Fingers, Feet, and Other Body Parts: These can often appear suddenly without an apparent cause. Tips for dealing with these types of cramps are similar to those related to physical activity. ^[11]

Why Do Cramps Occur?

Muscle cramps have plagued people for ages. However, the human body is so complex that experts still don’t fully understand what exactly causes them. As we mentioned earlier, the cause of some cramps is a medical condition, related to changes in the body during that illness. Today, though, we will focus on cramps associated with physical activity. Scientists suggest two possible causes for these cramps.

• Dehydration and Electrolyte Imbalance: This was long considered the main reason for muscle cramps. During intense activity, the body loses water through sweating, necessitating a redistribution of the remaining water in the body to replace the lost fluids and maintain functionality. The movement of water in the body is linked to the transfer of electrolytes. These electrolytes (sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, chloride) facilitate communication between muscle and nerve cells and ensure smooth muscle function. Dehydration can cause these electrolytes to become unevenly distributed, leading to poor communication and resulting in muscle cramps. This imbalance can be exacerbated by the loss of electrolytes through sweating. ^[1,11]
• Altered Neuromuscular Control: Today, most experts believe this is the primary cause of cramps. This theory posits that muscle fatigue from excessive physical exertion disrupts the signals sent from nerve cells to muscle cells, separating them from the chain, disrupting their function and leading to cramps. Think of it like the flickering screen of a laptop or TV just before it breaks down. Each person has different limits; one might experience muscle fatigue and cramps after running a marathon, while an older, untrained person might get a cramp just from a long walk. ^[1,8,11]

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What Can Contribute to the Occurrence of Cramps?

If you occasionally suffer from muscle cramps, you might already know which situations tend to trigger them. Often, it’s intense physical activity that taps into the deepest reserves of your energy. Similarly, cramps might strike when you neglect sleep or exercise in scorching heat.

There are several situations linked to a higher risk of cramps. Each of these can be traced back to the two causes we discussed earlier: muscle fatigue or a deficiency and imbalance of magnesium and electrolytes in the body. These factors can act as triggers for cramps. What situations are we talking about?

1. Overtraining and Muscle Fatigue

Those who have experienced muscle cramps can likely attest that this discomfort often strikes exhausted and overworked muscles. Cramps can typically surprise you after a long and intense effort that pushes muscles to their limits. Endurance activities such as running, cycling, and team or racket sports (like football, basketball, or tennis) which rely on stamina and speed, are common culprits. ^[3]

Research shows that cramps often trouble marathon runners and triathletes, especially those who achieve faster results and perform more intensely. However, you don’t need to be a professional athlete to be plagued by cramps. Each person has a different threshold for what is too much, making long runs, strenuous cycling trips, intense circuit training, HIIT workouts, or tough football or other training sessions potentially risky. They can also occur after a long walk or challenging hike or when you suddenly increase your activity level to a higher intensity than you’re used to. Conversely, cramps during strength training are less common because muscles are given more rest to recover between sets. ^[3]

2. Unfavourable Environmental Conditions

When we exercise, whether outdoors, in a gym, or a sports hall, our performance can be significantly affected by temperature and humidity. According to experts, these factors are also important in the occurrence of muscle cramps. High temperatures are particularly risky as cramps are more frequent in hot weather than in colder periods. These cramps, associated with physical activity, were once called “heat cramps,” though this term is no longer used since they can also occur in cold weather.

Hot weather poses a risk for muscles because it increases their workload. If you go for a run in the summer heat, your body must exert more effort, leading to quicker fatigue than if you waited with your run until evening. Muscles also tire faster and are more prone to cramping. Excessive sweating in the heat contributes to fluid and electrolyte loss, leading to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance, which can trigger cramps.

3. Dehydration and Electrolyte Imbalance

While experts no longer believe dehydration is the main cause of muscle cramps, it can still be a contributor. This is why it’s still recommended to drink plenty and replenish electrolytes with sports drinks, especially during prolonged and exhausting activities.

Dehydration is a condition you should avoid at all costs, not only for your muscles but for your overall health. Its dangers are evident in athletes who collapse after long and demanding performances due to dehydration. You might recall the name Julie Moss, an American triathlete who, in 1982, ran out of energy three kilometres before finishing the Ironman race and crawled to the finish line. Dehydration played a significant role in this incident. ^[12]

Dehydration during performance is often associated with hyponatremia, or low sodium levels, which typically occurs when excessive sweating isn’t matched by electrolyte intake (when you drink only water). This electrolyte imbalance, combined with dehydration, can lead to total exhaustion, creating a perfect storm for impaired muscle function, including cramps. In extreme cases, hyponatremia can result in collapse. ^[2]

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4. Genetic Predisposition

It might sound surprising, but genetics also play a role in the occurrence of cramps. Studies on this topic have found that athletes suffering from cramps often have a family history of this problem more frequently than those who do not experience painful muscle contractions at all. Researchers have even identified that the propensity for cramps can be seen in genetic makeup, specifically in genes that encode the function of collagen and muscle fibres. Thus, cramps can be partially hereditary. ^[6]

How to Prevent Cramps?

1. Avoid Overtraining

Finding a balance in exercise and training to ensure that your favorite physical activities do not negatively impact your health can be challenging. Your mind might often try to convince you that more frequent and intense training leads to better performance. However, this is often not the case, and your body might retaliate, for example, with frequent muscle cramps. So, how can you avoid overtraining when engaging in long-lasting and intense activities like running?

• Proper Training Plan: The foundation is a well-structured training plan. If you are unsure how to create one, consult a trainer who can develop the right approach with you.
• Gradual Increase in Intensity: Gradually increase your workload and intensity. Think of it like driving a car—initially, long drives are exhausting, but with experience, you can handle longer journeys without any adverse effects. The same principle applies to sports.
• Avoid Sudden Increases in Activity: Be mindful of engaging in sudden, demanding activities for which your body is not prepared. A half-marathon might be too much if your longest run so far has been eight kilometers and you only run occasionally.

2. Maintain Hydration

Adequate fluid and electrolyte intake is one of the fundamental pillars of success in sports. Therefore, remember to drink before, during, and after your performance. To avoid dehydration and muscle cramps, you should drink 30-45 ml of fluids per kg of body weight daily. The exact amount depends on the type of sports activity, its intensity, duration, and current climatic conditions. If you engage in intense sports, don’t forget to replenish essential minerals, especially electrolytes, through sports drinks. This helps prevent electrolyte imbalance.

3. Replenish Electrolytes

Especially if you engage in endurance or intense sports requiring prolonged performance, drinking only water is not enough. You need to provide your body with chloride, sodium, magnesium, potassium, calcium, and other micronutrients. By supplying these before and during exercise, you can prevent electrolyte imbalance and reduce the chance of cramps.

How to replenish electrolytes?

• You can reach for ionic drinks containing electrolytes, vitamins and simple carbohydrates. These provide immediate energy for the muscles and thus delay their fatigue. Muscle fatigue is, as you already know, a significant risk in the development of cramps.
• When it comes to replenishing electrolytes in particular, hypotonic ionic drinks with a lower proportion of carbohydrates are very useful.
• Isotonic drinks are great for replenishing both electrolytes and carbohydrates during exercise. You can use those with a complex formula, such as FueRide.
• It’s also worth supplementing with magnesium alone. Magnesium is involved in proper muscle and nervous system function. During a muscle contraction, magnesium is what is in charge of the muscle relaxation phase. Therefore, if you are often troubled by cramps, in addition to the well-known supplement called Magnosolv, you can take magnesium in the form of capsules or, for example, effervescent tablets. ^[9]
• You can also dissolve the effervescent tablets or our electrolyte TABS in water.
• We can’t forget sodium either, a deficiency of which is most often associated with muscle cramps. You can find it in some ionic drinks, but it is absolutely easiest to have it in the form of salt. It is, in fact, one of the minerals that make up ordinary table salt. When you’re going to have a tough sporting performance, you can prepare a drink with a pinch of salt beforehand to help with potential cramps.
• Vitamin D is also involved in proper muscle function. Therefore, it’s a good idea to ensure optimal levels in your body not only by occasionally staying out in the sun, but also by taking supplements.

• For more information on choosing the right sports drink, check out our article Sports Drinks: When to Drink a Sports Drink and When Water Is Enough?
• If you want to know more about the effects of magnesium, read the article Cramps, Fatigue, Irritability, or Sleep: What Else Does Magnesium Affect?

4. Warm-Up Before Training

You probably already know that you perform better when your muscles are warmed up and loosened. A short warm-up can not only improve athletic performance but also make muscles more resistant to overload and injuries.

Incorporate dynamic stretching and joint mobilization in your warm-ups. It’s a simple way to reduce the chance of experiencing unpleasant muscle cramps during training. ^[7]

5. Strength Training

It is often said that regardless of the sport, an athlete’s training should ideally include both strength and endurance elements. This ensures that the body is well-prepared for the various challenges of athletic exertion. Muscle cramps are a perfect example.

As mentioned earlier, cramps mainly threaten athletes involved in endurance or long, intense activities. Strength training, on the other hand, includes breaks and lower intensity, reducing the frequency of cramps. Strengthening muscles prone to cramps can help prevent them.

If your main activity is running, cycling, swimming, football, or another endurance-based sport, incorporating strength training into your routine is beneficial. Visiting the gym once a week or doing home strength exercises can be sufficient. ^[4]

6. Regenerate After Training

Repetition is the mother of wisdom, so let’s remind ourselves that muscle cramps are most likely to occur when muscles are tired and overworked. Every professional, and likely even recreational athlete knows that avoiding this largely depends on proper recovery. Of course, knowing is one thing, and actually following through is another. However, if you want to prevent muscle cramps, avoid injuries, and consistently perform well over time, you should not neglect recovery.

The basics of a proper recovery program include sleep, a diet suitable for athletes, and hydration. Additionally, active rest and recovery techniques such as massage, sauna, or cryotherapy can significantly aid muscle recovery.

If you are interested in the topic of post-training recovery and want to learn how all these and other methods can help you, read our article 10 Tips to Recover Your Body After Training.

How to Get Rid of Cramps?

Even if you try to do everything to prevent muscle cramps, you might still be surprised by this painful visitor. What should you do when a cramp strikes and you want to get rid of it as quickly as possible?

1. Get Some Rest

The first rescue measure is definitely to stop the activity you are currently doing. Do not try to push through a calf cramp that catches you while running by attempting to run it off. Doing so might easily damage the muscle at the affected site and cause injury. Instead, allow the muscle fibres to restore their function by reducing the intensity of the activity. While running, you can switch to walking, or you can try the following first aid methods. ^[4]

2. Stretch the Affected Muscle

When a cramp hits, stretching the affected area is probably the last thing you feel like doing. However, skipping this step is likely a mistake, as stretching has proven to be the most effective method to quickly release a contracted muscle.

Static stretching, where you stretch the muscle to its maximum length and hold for several seconds, helps re-establish balance in the signals between nerve and muscle cells. It also helps separate muscle fibres that have shrunk and contracted during the cramp. However, even this method has its limits, and if stretching the affected area is too painful and does not bring relief, do not continue to avoid injury. ^[4,6,10]

3. Massage the Affected Area

When a muscle cramp strikes, massaging the affected area can help. Massage can improve blood flow in the massaged area or release muscle tension. Your fingers will suffice for the massage, but if you are in a gym or a fitness centre and have massage tools at hand, they can be useful. You can massage the muscle with a foam roller or a massage ball.

4. Take Electrolyte Supplements

We have already mentioned several times how important electrolytes are for muscle function. Therefore, if a muscle cramp arises from a lack of electrolytes, replenishing them in the form of supplements can help.

Which supplements to choose?

• Isotonic Sports Drink: It’s good to have an isotonic sports drink on hand that contains all essential electrolytes, such as sodium, magnesium, or calcium. Minerals from this type of sports drink are absorbed most effectively and quickly.
• Magnesium Shot: During long runs or bike rides, it’s worth carrying a Magnesium Shot, which contains magnesium in a high and concentrated amount. It can help release a contracted muscle immediately.

5. Apply Heat

Heat can help relax muscles and improve blood flow in the affected area. If a cramp surprises you in the middle of a forest, you probably won’t have a warm compress handy. However, you can use heat at home if you cannot get rid of the cramp by other means and the tension in the muscle persists.

You can apply heat in several ways.

• Warm Compresses: Try warm compresses, such as a warm, damp towel.
• Warm Bath: Give the muscle a warm bath, such as a warm tub or shower.
• Heating Pads or Lamps: Various heating pads or lamps can also be used.

6. Breathe Through It

Would you believe that simply playing around with your breath can help you get rid of cramps? Research has shown that hyperventilation, or rapid breathing, has repeatedly helped participants overcome muscle cramps. It’s not entirely clear how fast breathing works, but it is believed that the acidic environment in muscles caused by intense exertion contributes to cramps. Hyperventilation may help reduce this acidity. In the mentioned study, participants managed to overcome cramps by breathing at a rate of 20-30 deep breaths per minute.^[6]

What Should You Remember?

Muscle cramps are unexpected and painful muscle contractions that can really get you into trouble. They can occur even at rest without an apparent cause, but they mainly affect healthy individuals in relation to physical activity. The primary causes are muscle fatigue, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalance. However, they can be prevented by not overstraining muscles beyond their limits, focusing on recovery, and strengthening muscles prone to cramps. And if a cramp does strike, don’t forget about magnesium or effective stretching!

Will you use the knowledge from today’s article to combat annoying muscle cramps? If you found this article interesting and learned something new from it, it’d be great if you shared it with your friends and family.

Sources:

[1] G, G. et al. Muscle cramps: A comparison of the two-leading hypothesis. – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29857264/

[2] KLINGERT, M. et al. Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia in Marathon Runners. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9699060/

[3] MAUGHAN, R.J. - SHIRREFFS, S.M. Muscle Cramping During Exercise: Causes, Solutions, and Questions Remaining. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6901412/

[4] MILLER, K.C. et al. An Evidence-Based Review of the Pathophysiology, Treatment, and Prevention of Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8775277/

[5] MONDERER, R.S. et al. Nocturnal Leg Cramps. – https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11910-009-0079-5

[6] NELSON, N.L. - CHURILLA, J.R. A narrative review of exercise-associated muscle cramps: Factors that contribute to neuromuscular fatigue and management implications. – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27159592/

[7] O’CONNOR, F. ACSM’s Sports Medicine: A Comprehensive Review. . – s.l.: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2013. ISBN 978-1-4511-0425-7.

[8] SCHWELLNUS, M.P. Cause of exercise associated muscle cramps (EAMC)--altered neuromuscular control, dehydration or electrolyte depletion? – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18981039/

[9] SOUZA, A.C.R. et al. The Integral Role of Magnesium in Muscle Integrity and Aging: A Comprehensive Review. – https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/24/5127

[10] SWASH, M. et al. Muscular cramp: causes and management. – https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ene.13799

[11] Muscle Cramps - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf. – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499895/

[12] Recalled: Julie Moss Gives Triathlon Its Breakthrough Moment – Triathlete. – https://www.triathlete.com/culture/recalled-julie-moss-gives-triathlon-its-breakthrough-moment/