Painful leg cramps?

Question

For the past few months, whenever I wake up I get terrible leg cramps, in my calves.

I usually happens as I stretching. Nothing like yoga or work out, just normal stretching. I get a horrible pain in one leg or sometimes even both and sometimes the soreness will last for days. The cramp, or whatever it is, usually passes in a few minutes.

I'm not sure what would cause it. I've RLS (Restless Leg Syndrom) my entire life, but it never cause these kind of problems. I asked my mom, and she said the same thing happened to her at my age (I'm fifteen) but it went away. She also has RLS.

Is there anyway to stop, or at least ease, the pain? What will get rid of the soreness in the following days since normal pain relievers don't work? What could be causing it?

Answer 1

It sounds like shin splints... but since you are sleeping, I can't see how you would get them unless you did some serious walking or running the night before...Shin Splints happens when the muscle in the leg swells until it pushes against the bone, causing really bad pain in the lower part of your legs !!! I guess if you were stretching them a bit too far this could aalso occur !!

Answer 2

The legs are the first place your body targets when you are dehydrated. Drink lots of water! I recommend purified water and Mineral Water mixed 50/50. The Mineral Water is going to put back into the muscles the minerals they are losing on a daily basis. You must drink beyond your thirst to get the benefits of hydration.

I suggest that adults and children drink 40 ounces of water per 100 pounds of body weight every day. Realize that exercise, ambient temperature, and state of health affect the water needs of your body.

In the evening take a hot bath with 2c. of dissolved Epsom salts and soak for 30 minutes. Afterwards, if you have something shaped like a cylinder and made out of hard material (think of a large rolling pin you would use for pizza dough or something) place it under your leg and push down and roll it back and forth...this should massage the spasms out of your leg. It will hurt while you're doing it, but more so the type of pain that actually feels good, in the long run. Afterwards massage an analgesic cream into the area. You will start feeling better very quickly.

Answer 3

In addition to the whole dehydration thing, eat bananas for the potassium they contain. I'm not a physician (though I do work for several) so I can't give you the technical explanation for that, but my dad suffered from leg cramps for years - he actually kept potassium pills - and when I first started working out I would get them occasionally - and the middle of the night ones are the worst! And when you are in the midst of a cramp, usually walking on a cold hard surface helps.

Answer 4

When your leg cramps immediately pull your toes toward your leg in an upward motion pointing them upward. It will relax the muscle that is cramping. Also do exercise of standing about 1 foot from the wall and lean into the wall pulling the same muscles in the calf to relax them. Standing on the edge of the stair and lowering your heels below the level of your toes also helps. Give it a try.

Answer 5

I'm 14 and i have these terrible leg crams to. the reason is when I'm asleep and i don't cover my legs become very cold, and i think the cold makes me have cramps. the reason i know that the cold did that is because... for example when you wake up in the morning and you put your feet on the ground, and you know how the ground is cold so it gives you a stomach ache. so this is why. and if you do exercise maybe its because you haven't stretch in a long time so before you do any exercise you have to stretch first. and i hope you understand I'm not good at english.