Try again later, or contact the app or website owner. During Pregnancy: Symptoms, Causes, and Prevention Muscle cramps, sometimes called a charlie horse, during pregnancy are one of the common discomforts experienced by approximately half of all expecting mothers. The majority of muscle cramps during pregnancy occur in the lower extremities, particularly in the calves. Symptoms of Muscle Cramps During Pregnancy Muscle cramps and body aches during pregnancy may occur in any muscle or muscle group but is most commonly experienced in the legs. Muscle spasms that occur in the back what causes cramps in calves abdomen are also possible. You should consult your doctor if your symptoms occur frequently, are associated with swelling or redness, and are not relieved with traditional methods. What Causes Muscle Cramps During Pregnancy? If you experience muscle cramps frequently, they are probably related to more than one of the causes noted above.
Take a prenatal vitamin that contains calcium, potassium, and magnesium. To avoid overdosing, do not take additional supplements without talking to your doctor. Eating foods that are high in potassium, such as kiwi, bananas, or cantaloupe, is a great way to get some of the nutrients you need to prevent muscle cramps. How Do You Treat Muscle Cramps During Pregnancy? Massage the muscle and nearby muscle groups to provide relief.
Apply heat with a heating pad. Take a warm Epsom salt bath. Apply cold with an ice pack to reduce the pain. You may find that massaging the muscle with either heat or ice helps alleviate the pain more effectively. If your muscle cramps remain frequent and do not respond to the above treatment, contact your healthcare provider. This could be a sign of a different medical condition requiring another type of treatment. Danforth’s Obstetrics and Gynecology Ninth Ed. What week is your pregnancy in?
Enter the characters you see below Sorry, we just need to make sure you’re not a robot. Not to be confused with Seizures or Spasm. Cramps are common in athletes when they do not warm up. A cramp usually starts suddenly and it also usually goes away on its own over a period of several seconds, minutes, or hours. Restless leg syndrome and rest cramps are not considered the same as muscle cramps. This section does not cite any sources. Muscle contraction begins with the brain setting off action potentials, which are waves in the electrical charges that extend along neurons.
Cramps can occur when muscles are unable to relax properly due to myosin proteins not fully detaching from actin filaments. ATP means that the myosin heads remains attached to actin. Causes of cramping include hyperflexion, hypoxia, exposure to large changes in temperature, dehydration, or low blood salt. As early as 1965, researchers observed that leg cramps and restless legs syndrome can result from excess insulin, sometimes called hyperinsulinemia. Under normal circumstances, skeletal muscles can be voluntarily controlled. The duration of nocturnal leg cramps is variable, with cramps lasting anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. Medical conditions associated with leg cramps are cardiovascular disease, hemodialysis, cirrhosis, pregnancy, and lumbar canal stenosis. Gentle stretching and massage, putting some pressure on the affected leg by walking or standing, or taking a warm bath or shower may help to end the cramp.
If the cramp is in the calf muscle, dorsiflexing the foot will stretch the muscle and provide almost immediate relief. Quinine is no longer recommended for treatment of nocturnal leg cramps due to potential fatal hypersensitivity reactions and thrombocytopenia. Smooth muscle contractions may be symptomatic of endometriosis or other health problems. Menstrual cramps may also occur during a menstrual cycle, as a result of uterine contractions as the uterus sheds its lining. Statins may sometimes cause myalgia and cramps among other possible side effects. Stretching, massage, and drinking plenty of liquids may be helpful in treating simple muscle cramps.
The antimalarial drug quinine is a traditional treatment that may be slightly effective for reducing the number of cramps, the intensity of cramps, and the number of days a person experiences cramps. Quinine treatment may lead to haematologic and cardiac toxicity. Magnesium is commonly used to treat muscle cramps. Moderate quality evidence indicates that magnesium is not effective for treating or preventing cramps in older adults. It is not known if magnesium helps cramps due to pregnancy, liver cirrhosis, other medical conditions, or exercising. Adequate conditioning, stretching, mental preparation, hydration, and electrolyte balance are likely helpful in preventing muscle cramps. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.
The Vein Book, Hardcover text, Editor Bergin J, 2007. Spontaneous Leg Cramps and “restless Legs” Due to Diabetogenic Hyperinsulinism: Observations on 131 Patients”. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Serum electrolytes in Ironman triathletes with exercise-associated muscle cramping”. What causes leg cramps during pregnancy, and can they be prevented? Nocturnal leg cramps and prescription use that precedes them: a sequence symmetry analysis”.
Professional athletes suffering from familial hypercholesterolaemia rarely tolerate statin treatment because of muscular problems”. Mild to moderate muscular symptoms with high-dosage statin therapy in hyperlipidemic patients—the PRIMO study”. Lamperti C, Naini AB, Lucchini V, et al. Muscle coenzyme Q10 level in statin-related myopathy”. Report of the Therapeutics and Technology Assessment Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology”. Heat cramps: fluid and electrolyte challenges during tennis in the heat”. Medically reviewed by William Morrison, M.
Pain in any part of the leg is a common symptom of trauma or disease. There are many causes of leg pain. Other causes can relate to the blood vessels, nerves, muscles, joints, soft tissues, or bones. The course of treatment depends on the cause of the leg pain. Leg pain can often be treated at home, but if pain is sudden, severe, or persistent, or if there are other symptoms, medical attention may be necessary. This article will look at some common causes of leg pain and some home treatments. The causes of leg pain can be musculoskeletal, neurological, or vascular.
Shin splints and stress fractures can result from repetitive sports, such as running. Leg pain can sometimes indicate a serious vascular problems. These can occasionally be fatal, and they require medical intervention. Many types of pain can be treated at home, but severe or persistent pain can indicate a more serious condition. Leg pain has many different causes and can be managed at home. Leg pain can mostly be classified as neurological, musculoskeletal, or vascular, or these can overlap. Musculoskeletal pain: Examples are crepitus, recognized by a popping or cracking sound in the knee, or arthritis, an autoimmune disease that affects the joints in the hip, knee, or ankle. If a muscle, tendon, or ligament is strained, for example, during a fall, any pain will be musculoskeletal.
Night cramps, compartment syndrome, and stress fractures are also musculoskeletal problems. Neurological pain: Conditions include restless legs syndrome, in which the legs twitch uncontrollably, neuropathy, or nerve damage, and sciatic nerve pain. Here we will look at some of these in more detail. Pain occurs when nerves respond to stimuli such as high levels of pressure, high or low temperatures, and chemicals, which can be released by tissue damage. Leg pain can be sharp, dull, numbing, tingling, burning, radiating, or aching. It can also be acute, meaning sudden and short term, or it can also be chronic and persistent.
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Severity can be rated on a scale from 1 to 10, or from mild to severe. Injury sustained during a sports game or in an accident is normally acute and traumatic. The person can often identify the cause. Some sports injuries build up over time, such as repetitive strain injuries and stress fractures. Traumatic injuries can also become long-term, or chronic, problems if the individual does not rest or seek treatment. It is important to be aware of what was happening before and around the time that leg pain emerged, as this can help decide when to seek medical treatment. Different causes of leg pain can have similar symptoms. Getting a correct diagnosis increases the chances of receiving appropriate treatment, if necessary.
Identifying the symptoms and their onset can help find an appropriate diagnosis. The muscle, usually the calf at the back of the lower leg, tightens and goes into spasm. Cramps are more common at night and in older people. An estimated 1 in 3 people aged over 60 years experience night cramps, and 40 percent experience over 3 attacks per week. PADPAD can cause pain in the leg due to poor circulation. Without treatment, it can be fatal. Intermittent claudication causes the blood supply to the leg muscles to become restricted.
The resulting lack of oxygen and nutrients causes pain. The cramps consistently occur after the same walking distances, and they often ease on resting. DVT causes one type of leg pain and can become a blood clot on the lung if not quickly treated. DVT refers to a blood clot in the deep veins of the leg. It can emerge after spending a long time sitting down, for example, on a long-distance flight. Symptoms include swelling and a hot, painful sensation on one side of the leg.
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This may only occur when walking or standing up. The clot may dissolve on its own, but if the person experiences dizziness and sudden shortness of breath, or if they cough up blood, emergency attention is needed. These could be signs that DVT has developed into a pulmonary embolism, or a blood clot in the lung. Both PAD and DVT can present without symptoms. People whose lifestyle or medical history leaves them prone to vascular problems in the leg should be aware of possible symptoms. Jogging and running can create repetitive impact forces that overload muscles and tendons. Shin splints produce severe, localized tenderness in the muscles, and sometimes bone pain commonly felt around the shin bone. The shin pain cannot be explained by an obvious cause such as a fracture.
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Some fractures are easily and immediately visible, with severe bruising, swelling, and deformation. These normally receive urgent medical attention. Stress fractures are small fractures that can result from repetitive stresses sustained during sports, often when the intensity of activity increases too quickly. There is no single injury, and the fractures are small. The pain may start at an earlier stage during each exercise session, and eventually become present all the time. It is caused by inflammation of the popliteus tendon, which is important for knee stability. A sprain refers to a stretching or tearing. A strain is an injury to the muscles or tendons.
To beef up your calcium levels, the altered spinal nerve stimulates it to continue. Musculoskeletal pain: Examples are crepitus; putting some pressure on the affected leg by walking or standing, which can change the reflex activity of spinal nerves. Leg pain has many different causes — this article will look at some common causes of leg pain and some home treatments. Resulting in foot cramps. Severity can be rated on a scale from 1 to 10, most commonly in the calf muscles.
Often associated with running, a hamstring strain can lead to acute pain in the rear of the thigh muscle, usually due to a partial tear. Sprains and strains usually develop because of inadequate flexibility training, overstretching, or not warming up before an activity. Continuing to exercise while injured increases the risk. This could be due to a fracture or severe bruising. The swelling causes pressure to build up until the blood supply to muscle tissue is cut off, depleting the muscles of oxygen and nourishment. The pain may be unexpectedly severe, considering the injury. In severe cases, early pain may be followed by numbness and paralysis. Long-term effects include strain on other parts of the body as the gait changes to compensate for the pain.
Many cases of leg pain can be resolved at home, without medical intervention. Cramps, or Charley horses, can be alleviated by stretching and massaging the leg. If serious causes of cramps have been ruled out, self-help measures can be appropriate. Painkillers will not improve leg cramps, because they start suddenly, but stretching and massaging the muscle may help. Hold the toe and pull it up towards the body, while straightening the leg. Walk around on heels until the cramp eases off. Always stretch and warm up before and after exercising.
Avoid dehydration by drinking 8 to 12 glasses of water a day. Regularly stretch and massage the legs. Rest: to prevent further injury and allows healing time to reduce swelling. Ice: to reduces swelling, inflammation, and pain. Applied for up 20 minutes wrapped in a cloth, not directly on the skin. Compression: use an elastic bandage, firmly but not tightly wrapped, to reduce swelling and pain. Elevation: lift the leg above the level of the heart so that gravity assists with draining, to reduce swelling and pain. Drugs such as acetaminophen or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can help with some pain, but if pain persists for more than 72 hours, specialist medical advice should be sought.
A return to activity should be graduated in its intensity, to build up flexibility, strength, and endurance safely. Exercise and a healthful diet are beneficial. Those who have a treatment plan for a cardiovascular or other condition should follow it carefully. Leg pain has many different causes, and the symptoms often overlap. If they persist, worsen, or make life difficult, the individual should see a doctor. A differential diagnosis strategy can help rule out inappropriate causes, narrow down the possibilities, and provide timely intervention. Dystonias are movement disorders that cause muscle spasms and contractions in different parts of the body. What can cause swelling in one finger?
There are many reasons swelling can occur in one finger. Learn more about the potential causes and their treatment options here. Where do you feel kidney pain, and what does it feel like? People can feel kidney pain in their back, sides, or groin. It can be a sharp or dull pain. Learn more about kidney pain here.
