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That’s not just me?!? I have to IMMEDIATELY jump out of bed and stand up and rub my calf or the pain is going to intense.
I used to suffer from them regularly as a kid. Just drink water. Thats it, nothing magica… maybe it’s the magnesium as another poster said. But honestly I have never had one since I changed my life and joined the hydro homies.
You need a little Magnesium
I can never remember if it’s magnesium or potassium.
I need a big magnesium
I wouldn’t take more than 600mg at once
Of course you wouldn’t, coward. That’s how you unlock wolverine skeleton.
…drink some water folks.
Stretching helps. Try to touch your toes every morning. If you can’t reach them, ask someone else to touch your toes for you.
OMG. Genius life hack. Never even thought of having someone else touch my toes.
You’re dehydrated
Is that what that means? I never knew and just grunted at the pain.
Ya, apparently “dehydrated” is some new word for “thirsty”.
And now “thirsty” means something totally different.
yes
“Toes to noes!” Stretching your foot upward helps prevent it.
This is the way.
Oh God, thank you so much for this
you basically just want to stretch whichever muscle is seizing up. if it’s your calf you want to pull on your toes.
I usually just try and relax it before the cramp hits critical mass. Stretching is always a “it’s stuck” response
it happens to me so infrequently that i don’t usually catch on to what’s happening until it’s too late 😅.
basically ruins my whole week every time. makes me paranoid it’ll happen again any second. then it doesn’t. then i forget. then i relax. then it gets me…
I find it’s more common when Im Out of shape but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still happen. It’s so weird cuz it can happen on my sleep and I usually freak out and literally jump awake only to hyper fixate of the leg trying to prevent the tension from maxing out. Man it’s crazy how painful doing nothing can be
That can trigger the muscle to contract even more, making the cramp worse. The thing to do is to contract the muscle group opposite of the muscle that is contracting, which forces the cramping muscle to relax. So for a calf cramp, try to raise your foot using the muscles on your shin.
You just gave the same advice.
No, I gave different advice. Contracting your shin muscles doesn’t relieve the calf cramp because it stretches the calf muscle. Contracting your shin muscles sends a signal to your calf muscles to relax. This is how your body prevents opposing muscle groups from contracting at the same time.
My strategy of pulling on my big toe has been working pretty well
It’s a liopleurodon! A magical liopleurodon!
BLUE UNICORN
Hey, Charlie. Hey Charlie, wake up!PINK UNICORN
Yeah Charlie. You silly sleepy-head, wake up.(Charlie wakes up and looks at the two)
CHARLIE THE UNICORN {Groans}
Oh God, you guys, this had better be pretty freaking important. Is the meadow on fire?BLUE UNICORN
No Charlie. We found a map, to Candy Mountain. Candy Mountain, Charlie.PINK UNICORN
Yeah, Charlie, we're going to Candy Mountain. Come with us, Charlie.BLUE UNICORN
Yeah Charlie, it'll be an adventure. We're going on an adventure, Charlie.CHARLIE THE UNICORN
Yeah, Candy Mountain, right. I'm just gonna, you know, (puts his head down and closes his eyes) go back to sleep now.(Blue unicorn flips onto Charlie’s back and starts bouncing on him)
BLUE UNICORN {Jumping onto Charlie’s back}
Noooo, Charlie. You have to come with us to Candy Mountain.PINK UNICORN
Yeah, Charlie, Candy Mountain. It's a land of sweets and joy...and joyness.CHARLIE THE UNICORN
Please stop bouncing on me.BLUE UNICORN {Still jumping up and down on Charlie}
Candy Mountain Charlie.PINK UNICORN
Yeah! Candy Mountain!CHARLIE THE UNICORN
Alright, fine! I'll come with you to Candy Mountain.
This fixes it instantly every time for me. Ignore everybody else. When you get that cramp start moving your foot in the opposite direction pointing your toes towards your knee and stretch out the back of your ankle. Instant cramp relief everytime.
If you have cramping often like this then maybe dedicate yourself to some hamstring stretches.
I once tried it and got a second more agonising cramp
That’s fair. Everybody’s body is a bit different I suppose. I would totally be doing more stretches in your case though.
Yeah, I’ve neglected physical health too much recently
So like one a day?
I find this happens to me if I panic and do the stretch too quickly. But if I do it at fast but measured pace it works every time.
My dad told be the trick at a time when I was getting night cramps often and it changed my life
It could be that. I did it very slowly so idk, at least I woke up
This is how you fix a cramp scuba diving - grab the tips of your fins and pull up. Same effect. Works for me too.
…and learn better finning technique.
Boof magnesium
Quinine, there’s still some tonic waters that have it, and even in the very low dose that they use it’ll work preventatively for a few weeks
no boof sodium
Foam rolling + active release works better than pure stretching IMO. Also be sure to get your micronutrients in.
Edit: I should clarify this is intended for maintenance, not in the moment relief of the cramp.
Similar trick I learned, just get out of bed and stand up on it. It’ll go away in ~10 seconds and then you can hop back into bed. Works pretty much every time.
Standing up works every time for me. If I want to remain in bed i try to push the bottom of my foot into the bed as if I were standing on it. It often does the job .
yeah that’s what I do. The method described above you is what causes my cramps sometimes
Yeah I haven’t had good luck with that either.
Alternatively, start eating properly and solve the problem at its root.
This trick has become a reflex for me, to the point where I barely even wake up when I get a Charlie horse in the middle of the night, since I start flexing my foot automatically when I feel it coming on.
I only cramp when underhydrated and most people are underhydrated (Drewnowski, 2013).
Make sure we’re all getting enough water before taking further action!References
Drewnowski, A., Rehm, C.D. & Constant, F. Water and beverage consumption among adults in the United States: cross-sectional study using data from NHANES 2005–2010. BMC Public Health 13, 1068 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-1068Hydration certainly helps but can also be magnesium deficiency, since it’s a muscle relaxant.
or a potassium deficiency.
🍌
Yes, there absolutely can be a lot of weird reasons your bike is not handling properly. But it’s important to make sure of the basics first: that the tires have air in them.
Stand up as fast as possible and put your weight on that leg.
Physically pulling your toes back (up and towards the heel) usually works for me
Yeah usually stretching my calf as I feel it happening works. Otherwise I feel it all day.
Now I’m in more pain, angry, and crying (in pain).
You need to get up quick because it will be harder the longer it lasts. Once standing firmly on the ground, lean slightly forwards to shift most of the weight to the front of the foot. It never failed to help me.
WE ARE CHARLIE HORSE!
Charlie’s not been around for a long time… Since I tripled my magnesium bisglycinate dose (spread out through the day), along with other minerals.
I feel seen.
The best way to take care of an unwanted Charlie is to shoot it in the neck.
