End of Cramp Season?

 

We might be near the end of Cramp Season, but it still shows up here and there.  “Cramp Season?”  What is that (you might ask)? Well, I just made it up. Cramp Season is that time of year when you might see an athlete writhing on the field, with muscles in spasm.

What is a cramp? If you know, you know. But from a sort-of medical perspective, a cramp is when a muscle forcibly contracts without an injury.  It most often happens toward the end of a great physical effort, usually toward the end of the game. And usually (but not always) in hot weather.

A term has actually been created to define it—Exercise Associated Muscle Cramps (EAMC).  The dreaded EAMC.  You laugh now, but if you have one, you won’t be laughing. 

If you’re that athlete, you think you might die, while that hamstring or calf muscle spasms up and convinces you that the end is near.  For us old folks, it still happens, but a study that I just made up indicates that it most often happens at night to us senior citizens. 

If you are an athlete, you’ve probably experienced EAMC.  If you’re a spectator, you’ve surely witnessed it.  The athlete is laying on the ground when someone nearby grabs their leg and holds it straight up in the air.  Somehow, that relieves some of the spasms.

Why would a muscle cramp like that?   There is certainly a neuromuscular component, but that may just be a protective mechanism where your body is just telling you that your body has had enough.

Muscle exhaustion is another source of cramps.  That one may also be that muscle’s chemistry telling you that it was not going to cooperate with further activity.

Most of the time, the blame is on dehydration and loss of electrolytes.  Heavy sweating can flush a lot of essential electrolytes from your system, again creating a mechanical or chemical response where the muscle goes into spasm. And it just makes sense that we sweat more in hot weather or with heavy exercise. Put the two together and the potential for cramping is obvious.

What to do?  Well, immediately it helps to stretch on the muscle involved. That’s why you see teammates grabbing the leg and stretching it up.  Gentle massage helps.  Even if you think you’re going to die first, it will subside.

It’s a whole lot better to prevent cramps.  That is done by being in great shape—conditioning is huge. But even then, it can happen. That’s where hydration and electrolyte replacement come in. Water is OK, but if you only hydrate with water, then you might develop a condition known as hyponatremia, which is where all those essential electrolytes are flushed out of your body. I’ve seen whole body cramps from hyponatremia.

No, you need sports drinks heavy on electrolytes and not those that are full of sugar (although some sugar helps those electrolytes get absorbed better).  Before, during, and after.

And if you are over the worst part of a cramp, you need to eat something sour. That’s right…sour.  Studies (not mine) have proved conclusively that it is the sour taste that triggers some neuromuscular mechanism that inhibits the cramp.  That’s why some folks swear by pickle juice—it isn’t the pickles or the juice, but the sour.  I use a variety of products but good ol’ fashioned Sweet Tarts may be about as good as anything.