How to prevent or deal with cramps during exercise

1. There are many reasons for muscle skin convulsions, which may lead to cramps during exercise due to the different activities involved, the intensity of exercise, the time of exercise, the posture of exercise, etc.

If you don't have time to warm up before exercising, it is easy to cause cramps. Because the muscles suddenly go from a static state to a state of movement, they can cramp before they can get used to it.

If a person is involved in too strenuous exercise, the calf muscles will suddenly contract and become extremely painful and completely unable to move, resulting in calf cramps. This phenomenon is generally more common in running and leg exercises that require instantaneous explosive power.

If the ambient temperature changes too quickly during exercise, it is easy to cause cramps. The most common is when swimming and water sports, the large temperature difference between the water and the shore can cause the muscles to constrict violently and cramp.

If you exercise for a long time, it is easy to cause cramps. Prolonged exercise will cause the muscles to enter a state of fatigue, and the lactic acid accumulated in the muscles will cause more and more changes in muscle function and cramps.

When exercising, if the movement and posture are not standardized, it may also cause cramps. The posture and movement of the exercise are not quietly grasped, which is standardized, and it is easy to cause sports injuries, local circulation disorders and other problems.

2. When exercising cramps, be sure to stop exercising temporarily and take a break. You can also use the thumbs of both fingers to force the muscles on the inside of the knee joint, or you can use your thumbs to force and massage the other parts of the cramp to help relieve the pain.

3. It is also more common to have arm cramps during exercise, generally at this time, first stop the exercise, and then slowly straighten the arm, you can hold the palm of the hand and pull the arm to help relieve the cramp. If you have abdominal cramps, the easiest way is to raise your abdomen so that your abdominal muscles can remain straight.

4. Cramps occur during swimming is a relatively common situation, at this time you must keep calm, bend the cramped leg first, and swim back to the shore with other hands and feet, or people who can float can temporarily stop swimming, float on the surface of the water and return to the shore after the cramps are relieved.

1. The preparation activities are not sufficient, the muscles suddenly change from a static state to a sports state, and they cannot adapt for a while, and contractures occur, that is, cramps;

2. The ambient temperature changes suddenly, and the muscles are "shivering" due to cold, causing cramps;

3. Long-term exercise causes muscle fatigue, continuous exercise without rest, muscle accumulation of metabolites (such as lactic acid, etc.), and functional changes cause cramps;

4. Strenuous exercise, heavy sweating, excessive loss of water and salt, and lack of chloride in the body will also cause cramps;

5. Sudden increase in the load intensity of exercise, or sudden change in the mode of exercise causing sharp muscle contraction;

6. Engaging in sports with inappropriate posture or poor muscle coordination;

7. Poor local circulation;

8. Minor laceration of muscle or tendon;

9. Excessive emotional tension;

10. Severe diarrhea, vomiting and insufficient mineral content (such as magnesium and calcium) in the diet.

Ways to avoid cramps:

Avoid method 1: Warm-up exercises before exercise.

Be sure to warm up before exercising, the function of warm-up exercise is to pull the muscles and tendons to avoid muscle strains.

Generally do this step well, and most sports cramps can be avoided.

Avoid Method 2: Calcium and vitamin D supplementation

During exercise, sometimes cramps are caused by some postures or some extreme angles, and it is important to supplement calcium normally.

Many postmenopausal women need calcium supplements, more outdoor activities, and vitamin D supplements, which are the best ways to prevent cramps.

How to deal with cramps:

The most common areas of cramping are: calf hind calf and solar plate.

Step 1: Quickly pull the forefoot back firmly.

Pulling the cramped leg back quickly and forcefully is a quick way to relieve spasms.

Don't pull it slowly, it will hurt more and more.

Solution Step 2: Soak the cramp area with salt water and massage it properly.

Once the leg muscles have relaxed, it can also be helpful to soak them in salt water and massage them properly.

I believe that everyone has the experience of cramps, the current discomfort makes you dare not move, obviously you have done stretching exercises before exercise, why do you still have cramps? How to relieve cramps? According to the Greatist report, as long as you do these 4 things more, you can effectively stop cramps!

Causes of post-exercise cramps.

The preparatory activities are not done sufficiently, the muscles suddenly change from a resting state to a moving state, and they cannot adapt for a while, and contractures occur, that is, cramps.

The ambient temperature changes suddenly, and the muscles "shiver" from the cold, causing cramps.

Long-term exercise causes muscle fatigue, continuous exercise without rest, muscle accumulation of metabolites (such as lactic acid, etc.), and changes in function cause cramps.

Strenuous exercise, heavy sweating, excessive loss of water and salt, and lack of chloride (mainly table salt) in the body can also cause cramps.

A sudden increase in the intensity of the load on the exercise, or a sudden change in the way the movement is carried out, causing the muscles to contract sharply.

Engaging in sports in inappropriate posture or poor muscle coordination.

Electrolyte imbalance: Excessive sweating during exercise, especially in hot weather, can cause a large loss of electrolytes. The main components of sweat are water and salt, and salt is related to muscle contraction, and the loss of too much salt can cause muscle excitement and cramps.

Calcium deficiency: Our body is prone to cramps due to calcium deficiency, because the body does not replenish enough calcium, calcium and phosphorus metabolism is out of balance, the calcium ions in muscle fibers are insufficient, and the vitamin D content is low, so the muscles will cramp. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement the body with enough, absorb good protein substances, and spend more time in the sun.

Muscle contraction disorder or injury: such as rapid continuous contraction, which causes the muscle to relax not enough to cause spasticity, or repeated micro-injury to the muscle during exercise, causing protective tonic contraction.

How to prevent cramps after exercise.

1.Replenish water and electrolytes.

When you sweat a lot during exercise, the body loses water, and the electrolytes will be out of balance, and if you can't drink water immediately, you may have cramps, which most often occurs in the hot and humid summer, so you must remember to hydrate at any time, and eating some bananas to supplement sodium and potassium can also be effectively improved.

2.Vitamin supplementation.

When the body is deficient in certain vitamins, it can also become prone to cramps, and studies have shown that supplementing with zinc, magnesium, vitamins B, D, and E can effectively relieve pain, although they cannot suppress cramps.

3.Do plenty of stretching exercises before exercising.

Before and after exercise, you must really stretch, let the muscles warm up, cool down and relax properly, pay attention to whether the muscles really feel pulled when doing stretching exercises, the action lasts for 20 to 30 seconds as much as possible, and then relax and repeat the action The effect will be better.

4.Massage the cramped area.

If you have cramps, be sure to stop the current exercise immediately, and slowly stretch the muscles that are spasming, plus a moderate massage, and you can also apply hot or cold compresses to relieve the pain faster and better.