FF - Your community magazine


Page 18


Female Focus The reason for your bedtime leg cramps


Article supplied by Kevin Thornton,


Telephone 96 676 5686


Leg cramps are sudden and involuntary contractions of one or more muscles which most commonly appear throughout the night period, while you are sleeping. The cramps cause unbearable pain that awakens you.


The main cause for night leg cramps is prolonged hours of inactivity of your body.


For most people, the leg cramps


usually occur in the calf area, but they can also cause a lot of pain in the thighs and feet. Sometimes the cramps last just few seconds, while sometimes can last up to a few minutes. Sometimes, may


also


the entire or even following


you feel


soreness in your muscle


day


after the cramps have passed.


The night leg cramps


appear


for both men and women and are to


most impact


people over 50s. However even


younger people can experience pain caused by cramps during the night.


Restless leg syndrome also known as RLS also appears while you are sleeping. At this point it is important to explain that these two conditions are quite different, RLS causes discomfort or crawling feeling in the legs and by moving your leg while RLS you will experience relief, while by moving


likely in


during night the


the leg in nocturnal leg cramps you will not. In addition to that, the RLS causes discomfort or crawling feeling in your legs, while RLS does not cause pain or cramping, etc.


Although the precise cause for nocturnal leg cramps is still unknown, there are some potential risk factors, causes or even medical conditions which may often lead to them


- Sitting improperly - Pregnancy


- Standing or working on concrete floors - Sitting for prolonged periods of time - Dehydration


- Diuretics, statins, beta blockers medication - Over-exertion of the muscles in the leg - Structural disorders like flat feet - Parkinson’s disease


- Endocrine disorders like diabetes - Neuromuscular disorders


The cramps are very painful and uncomfortable. When they appear, the person who suffers from them feels virtually paralysed, eating a banana on a regular basis will help keep your potassium levels high which helps to reduce cramps.


Next time you start experiencing cramps, try this trick: sit on the floor and extend both legs fully, flex your feet at the ankles and try to point your toes toward your knees for 5 seconds. Then, get up and walk around or gently massage the area in which you feel the pain. This should provide you with great relief almost instantly and for long term relief, getting more active should help greatly with this condition.


This article is for information purposes ONLY and should not be used as a diagnostic tool. Always consult with your medial adviser or G.P. on all medical matters. Should you require any further information, have any other question that you may want answered or would prefer a one to one FREE consultation then please contact Kevin on 96 676 5686 or 605 306 129 or email him on physicaltherapyclinic@yahoo.com or sitam66@yahoo.co.uk.


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