leg cramps at night, after cycling/exercising

datakoll wrote:
riders here smear mustard on bar tape !

seriously, if you stretch expertly, exercise he area appropriately then
the area will not cramp if no medical problem exists.

if the muscle is stretched then the muscle is relaxed in a state where if
nutritionally supplied as normal or better then the muscle will not suddenly contract.

maybe a biz op ? bikemustard ? has Kryg tried BenGay ? izzat the mustard
effect ? do you do this in Paris or Lower Ohio ?

aha ! a mustard-bar video staring Mr Cork

mustard...eyeyehhahhahahha....

Stretching, hydration and electrolytes. But you can still cramp when the
muscle goes from heavy use to none like when topping a tough hill and
stopping your pedalling. Need to keep spinning.

On the sofa or in bed I don't know. I've had that too but usually when I'm
not drinking enough water or eating well. Only thing that ever helped with
that once it happened was walking it out.

--
duane

right, like bonking is total cramping body wide where bonking is casued by low hydration, lowering blood fluidity, lower available total water supply adn thus whether present or not lower nutrients, as often thought of...electrolytes

muscle cramping bonks a specific muscluar area, stretching pre-relaxs the area.

stretching beginning the day, before and after riding.

this cure is usually effective. Mustard/muscle relaxants cover the real causes preventing true cure.

remeber the MUSTARD PLASTER ?

I'LL fetch one !

"Dan" wrote in message
...
"Gus" writes:

What do you do to prevent leg calf cramps? And what do when you get
one in the middle of the night? I usually writhe in pain and try and
massage it and try to relax. Eventually, it stops.

I get those, and that's what I do, too. Oddly, it's when I'm really
strong and in good shape for riding long and hard.


I get them when exercising a lot of a sudden (such as spring), or suddenly
slow down exercising after had been a lot (such as late fall).

Bananas help a lot, usually prevent them; maybe I didn't eat enough the
other day. Had a half a small one... I wonder what farmers/laborers did
that did not have grocery stores and bananas and Gatorade in older times?

On Saturday, 20 July 2013 16:58:26 UTC+1, Gus wrote:
"Dan" wrote in message

...

"Gus" writes:



What do you do to prevent leg calf cramps? And what do when you get

one in the middle of the night? I usually writhe in pain and try and

massage it and try to relax. Eventually, it stops.



I get those, and that's what I do, too. Oddly, it's when I'm really

strong and in good shape for riding long and hard.





I get them when exercising a lot of a sudden (such as spring), or suddenly

slow down exercising after had been a lot (such as late fall).



Bananas help a lot, usually prevent them; maybe I didn't eat enough the

other day. Had a half a small one... I wonder what farmers/laborers did

that did not have grocery stores and bananas and Gatorade in older times?

If you like bananas, eat a dozen. If you can't eat that many, try another fruit. I'm particularly fond of mangoes, but in the last year have feasted on bananas, pears and oranges. Stop eating meat, milk and grain and stay with fruits, greens and fats. Those spasms are likely due to calcium which has stuck in your lymph ducts and this could be due to low levels of circulatory fat and/or high protein intake. Carbohydrate restriction and lack of quality dietary fat will cause this. The best fat is that from oily fish. My difficulties with calf spasms have disappeared since eating sufficient herrings/kippers to maintain an oily skin. I also have a bottle of cod liver oil and take a swig if I'm out of fish and there seems to be some dryness in my skin.

After the skin is self oiling, skin massage becomes most effective. Brushing of the skin with a natural fibre scrubbing brush will encourage circulation. Keep at it so all the area is pink and warm.

Any greens will assist lymphatic movement. Mustard, cayenne, turmeric and horseradish seem perticularly good for lymphatic movement.

Go to bed, keep warm and rest well. Point toes for 20 seconds so as to stretch the lymph ducts. They should respond within a few minutes, but this may cause the same painful spasm. That's your cue to keep resting.

Low magnesium levels will also cause the problem and are likely if little or no organic vegetation is eaten. The fastest rem,edy is to make up a saturated brine from sea salt or magnesium chloride and spread it over lower legs and feet, and also take 10g of the dry salt in a quart of water and spread this out through the day.

Dandelion leaves or comfrey leaves are useful for making an infusion to drink or as a poultice. The common term for comfrey being knitbone, you should see that it assists in calcium movement. Dandelion root may also be roasted and ground and used as coffee. It is far better to do this yourself than purchasing the commercial product. The home roasted stuff really helps, the shop stuff is relatively inert.

When massaging the lumps of pain, simply press in the centre of the pain and hold for twenty to thirty seconds before slowly releasing pressure. Do not rub up and down when in spasm or that pain is sharp, just hold it with varying pressure.

Sunbathing also helps, preferably naked but you certainly want to get the sides of your thighs exposed and all the way up to your ribs. Tight waistbands will also restrict movement so use braces not a belt on your trousers, or wear dungarees or a blanket if you "can't" go naked.

Of all the stuff i have tried, the last was cod liver oil. It's pretty damn easy to keep it up and could save a lot of bother trying to sort out everything else, so if you can't get fish with 2mm of fat under their skin, I reckon cod liver oil alone may do the trick. Forget about dosage instructions, take a mouthful when required and follow it with an orange each day.

On Saturday, 20 July 2013 05:41:28 UTC+1, datakoll wrote:
STRETCHING EXERCISES ! there are manuals.



Yes, but don't work unless one's insides are oiled up first.




visit EXRX online



more fluids, fresh vegtables,.

My experience is that one should forget about fluids and just eat fruit to satisfy "thirst". Every day, keep eating fruit until you ****.

On Saturday, 20 July 2013 05:57:31 UTC+1, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Friday, July 19, 2013 7:37:19 PM UTC-4, Gus wrote:



What do you do to prevent leg calf cramps? And what do when you get one in



the middle of the night?



As I said in another post, I do sometimes get after-ride leg cramps now. That never happened at all until age 50 or so. Occasionally, I have to sort of fight them off while riding, but that's fortunately rare.



After reading a lot on the subject of cramps, plus testing various remedies, here's my routine: First, my water bottles don't contain pure water. I put a few shakes of table salt, or (better, I think) salt substitute into my water. This is especially true on hot days.

Make it sea salt or magnesium chloride. About 10g per quart/litre. Use some fresh lemon and sugar to balance the taste



Second, my after-ride drink is orange juice with added salt. For whatever reason, it tastes wonderful to me after a hot ride. I think it's giving me something I need (say, sodium & potassium).

Try pineapple juice mixed with tomato juice, a bit of sea salt and cayenne.



Third, if I do get a cramp or the beginning of a cramp, a big spoonful of mustard seems to stop it within seconds. In fact, I now carry a few of those fast-food mustard packets, the thin plastic envelopes of mustard, in my handlebar bag. I can recall only once that I actually used one on a ride, but the stuff works so well for me that it's worth carrying.

Tube of Colman's English mustard helps me when I get suddenly tired.



The articles that recommended mustard pointed out that nobody seems to know why it works; but OTOH, cramping in general is poorly understood.

Mustard like horseradish is a strong stimulant for the lymphatic system.

It's unlikely that any chemical in the mustard makes it to the muscle, because when it works, mustard stops a cramp in seconds. But I guess I don't care much why it works. For me, it just does.

On Saturday, 20 July 2013 06:20:47 UTC+1, JoeRiel wrote:
Frank Krygowski writes:



On Friday, July 19, 2013 7:37:19 PM UTC-4, Gus wrote:



What do you do to prevent leg calf cramps? And what do when you get one in



the middle of the night?



As I said in another post, I do sometimes get after-ride leg cramps now.. That never happened at all until age 50 or so. Occasionally, I have to sort of fight them off while riding, but that's fortunately rare.



After reading a lot on the subject of cramps, plus testing various remedies, here's my routine: First, my water bottles don't contain pure water. I put a few shakes of table salt, or (better, I think) salt substitute into my water. This is especially true on hot days.



Second, my after-ride drink is orange juice with added salt. For whatever reason, it tastes wonderful to me after a hot ride. I think it's giving me something I need (say, sodium & potassium).



Third, if I do get a cramp or the beginning of a cramp, a big spoonful of mustard seems to stop it within seconds. In fact, I now carry a few of those fast-food mustard packets, the thin plastic envelopes of mustard, in my handlebar bag. I can recall only once that I actually used one on a ride, but the stuff works so well for me that it's worth carrying.



The articles that recommended mustard pointed out that nobody seems to know why it works; but OTOH, cramping in general is poorly understood. It's unlikely that any chemical in the mustard makes it to the muscle, because when it works, mustard stops a cramp in seconds. But I guess I don't care much why it works. For me, it just does.



I'll get cramps in the arches of my feet. After a hard ride I can

generally induce them by curling the foot down (this makes it hard to

stretch the quad, since a quad stretch tends to curl the foot and start

a cramp. I occasionally get them at night; the solution is to get out

of bed and stand on the afflicted foot until the cramp stops, usually

just a few seconds.



Disease management only. Your's is relatively mild and may be simply a matter of scrubbing your lower legs and feet with a scrubbing brush and clean water before going to bed and after rising. You may want to put on magnesium-oil castor oil or sesame oil as fits you best. You should probably make some investigatory massage to see if your lower legs are affected.

On Saturday, 20 July 2013 08:09:29 UTC+1, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 19 Jul 2013 19:37:19 -0400, "Gus"

wrote:



It has been very hot and humid here of late. Couple days ago I just rode to

the library and back, maybe 10 miles but it was during the afternoon. And I

mowed some of my lawn with a reel mower human powered the same day.



That night had terrible leg cramp when tried to put down the recliner foot

support and got horrible shooting pain in my calf. I had tried to drink

lots of water (maybe 4-5 16 ounce glasses during the day) and ate half a

banana. Usually, eating a banana prevents the problem but not this time.

Funny, not so funny thing at the time, was I didn't even get the foot

support down it popped back up, so was stuck in the recliner with the foot

support up. Had to shimmy out trying to not bend my beg to make it cramp

again. After about 15 minutes made it to the fridge and ate half another

banana and drank a glass of water. But had the leg cramped again couple

times though not full blown searing pain.



What do you do to prevent leg calf cramps? And what do when you get one in

the middle of the night? I usually writhe in pain and try and massage it

and try to relax. Eventually, it stops.



I had several bad sessions of leg cramps, particularly at night while

asleep. A friend recommended trying magnesium tablets and the cramps

stopped immediately after I took the first tablet. My supposition is

that a combination of the hot weather that caused me to sweat even

more then normal and my avoidance of salt due to high blood pressure

(I don't know if salt contains any significant amount of magnesium)

caused me to dehydrate and perhaps my electrolytes were out of

balance. But regardless, it worked for me.

Table-salt is sodium chloride, an industrial by-product of magnesium extraction.
Use the waste NaCl2 for slug killing and eat those greens. Sea salt is known to reduce high blood pressure. Table-salt rarely causes a rise in BP in people susceptible.



I have also read that putting a bar of soap in the bed also stops them

for some people.

One could suspect that is generally reducing acidity but it's much better to wash you clothes and bedclothes in soap than a petroleum oil derived detergent.

On Saturday, 20 July 2013 11:46:46 UTC+1, John B. wrote:
On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 11:53:34 +0200, Sepp Ruf

wrote:



John B. wrote:

On Fri, 19 Jul 2013 19:37:19 -0400, "Gus" wrote:



It has been very hot and humid here of late. Couple days ago I just rode to

the library and back, maybe 10 miles but it was during the afternoon. And I

mowed some of my lawn with a reel mower human powered the same day.



That night had terrible leg cramp when tried to put down the recliner foot

support and got horrible shooting pain in my calf. I had tried to drink

lots of water (maybe 4-5 16 ounce glasses during the day) and ate half a

banana. Usually, eating a banana prevents the problem but not this time.

Funny, not so funny thing at the time, was I didn't even get the foot

support down it popped back up, so was stuck in the recliner with the foot

support up. Had to shimmy out trying to not bend my beg to make it cramp

again. After about 15 minutes made it to the fridge and ate half another

banana and drank a glass of water. But had the leg cramped again couple

times though not full blown searing pain.



What do you do to prevent leg calf cramps? And what do when you get one in

the middle of the night? I usually writhe in pain and try and massage it

and try to relax. Eventually, it stops.



You obviously need to wear a Seattle leg helmet at night, those spasms could

throw you on the ground, you know.



I had several bad sessions of leg cramps, particularly at night while

asleep. A friend recommended trying magnesium tablets and the cramps

stopped immediately after I took the first tablet. My supposition is

that a combination of the hot weather that caused me to sweat even

more then normal and my avoidance of salt due to high blood pressure

(I don't know if salt contains any significant amount of magnesium)

caused me to dehydrate and perhaps my electrolytes were out of

balance. But regardless, it worked for me.



Unless you want to import some road salt, there is very little magnesium in

salt, even raw sea salt. Instead, try magnesium citrate or malate if

magnesium carbonate or eating more Mg-containing natural food isn't enough.



The stuff I bought is labeled Chelated Magnesium (whatever that means)

and seems to do the trick.



By the way, sea water is said to contain about 1200 - 1300 PPM of

Magnesium so I would assume that the evaporated sea water we can buy

here may well contain the same amount.



I have also read that putting a bar of soap in the bed also stops them

for some people.



I heard that a can of mustard gas makes one forget the cramps.



So, probably, will a quart of whiskey, but that may cause stomach

spasms :-)

That's good, that's your indication to eat fruit.

On Saturday, 20 July 2013 12:53:36 UTC+1, datakoll wrote:
riders here smear mustard on bar tape !



seriously, if you stretch expertly, exercise he area appropriately then the area will not cramp if no medical problem exists.



if the muscle is stretched then the muscle is relaxed in a state where if nutritionally supplied as normal or better then the muscle will not suddenly contract.



maybe a biz op ? bikemustard ? has Kryg tried BenGay ? izzat the mustard effect ? do you do this in Paris or Lower Ohio ?



aha ! a mustard-bar video staring Mr Cork



mustard...eyeyehhahhahahha....

Be better in your socks. Washing socks in a saturated magnesium brine is not so messy.