• Question: what is cramp and what does it do to you

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      Asked by RS Sport to Andy, Chris, Harriet, Jess, Nikki on 11 Mar 2016.
      • Photo: Nikki D'Arcy

        Nikki D'Arcy answered on 11 Mar 2016:

        Painful is what it is!! I had it in my toe the other day!

        It’s when your muscles tighten without warning. The cramps you would get in your leg or foot happen when your muscles are tired or when you have a lack of certain things called electrolytes in your body, these include sodium, potassium and magnesium.

      • Photo: Christopher Blanford

        Christopher Blanford answered on 11 Mar 2016:

        Hi RS Sport

        Nikki beat me to it!

        WebMD is a reliable source of information on the web:
        http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/muscle-spasms-cramps-charley-horse

        Chris

      • Photo: Jessica Groppi

        Jessica Groppi answered on 13 Mar 2016:

        Hi!

        I’m not an expert, but I think it’s due to a momentary imbalance of minerals in your muscles, which causes the muscle tissue to contract in a painful way until the blood flow fixes the imbalance.

        Jess.

      • Photo: andy chapman

        andy chapman answered on 13 Mar 2016:

        I was not surprised when researching this a. Little that this is one of those things that nobody is actually certain of what causes it.

        According to this (small) study that does not appear to be dubiously sponsored by a sports drink company did find electrolytes seemed to help prevent cramps compared to sugars. However it is not that convincing, and suggest dehydration and fatigue are also important factors

        http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1150229/#!po=15.6977

      • Photo: Harriet Reid

        Harriet Reid answered on 14 Mar 2016:

        It’s when your muscles tighten in an uncontrolled way. It’s due at an imbalance of water and dissolved chemicals in the muscle.

    Comments

    • Photo: Andy

      Andy commented on :

      Sorrie four the spolling mistakes, on my phone on the way back to London and have cramp in my fingers from writing. Maybe I need. Some salt, sugar, to do some stretches or arnica (that cures everything apprently)