how can you prevent a "charlie horse"?

Answer 1

Always stretch before doing any athletic activity. Potassium will help a lot, airgo the people that eat bananas. You can even by these pills now that help with cramping in drug stores on the vitamin aisle. I've also known a lot of soccer players that would take Tylenol a half hour before they played and said it was so their legs didn't cramp up.


EDIT: To PoolShtr79...TETANY is not the same thing as a Charlie Horse. Tetany would cause every muscle in your body to start contracting or spasming because that's when all of the nerve cells in your body depolarize and get stuck in a depolarized state.

Answer 2

Put more potassium and calcium in your diet. Ex. bannana's, milk. The lack of these vitamins puts your muscles in whats called "tetney" which means its constantly contracting and this is what you feel when you get a charlie horse. Painful huh!

Answer 3

Eat bananas. The lack of potassium is the primary cause of Charlie Horses. Eat bananas.

Answer 4

Regular stretching exercises and eating potassium will prevent leg cramps. That's why you see athletes like tennis players eating bananas on the sidelines.

Answer 5

Molasses (use a swig or two) and bananas (1 or 2 a day) both contain magnesium (which regulates many things in the body) and potassium (which muscles use).
For more on muscles, pain and referred pain read The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Davies. It teaches you how to treat the muscles that have knots (trigger points) in them by your self.

Answer 6

Find out the horse's name and if it isn't Charlie don't stop him.