Stamp out your cramps

BY SAM MULLANY - PHYSIO

“I’ve got a cramp!” Its 4 little words that involve a world of pain! For those who cramp, you know how debilitating and incapacitating the pain of a cramp can be…. And then all of a sudden .. we return to a normal pain free existence just like that. It’s quite a strange concept but a very common one, you’d think that science would be working hard to understand this brutal phenomenon, but truth is, science hasn’t done much to understand what we can do to avoid them.

The old wife’s tales and traditional remedies many of us think of to avoid or stop cramps, pickle juice, salt, sports drinks, bananas… None of those remedies is proven to help lessen the frequency or intensity of cramping. And if you or your mate swears by it, as did I, what I can say is, placebo is a powerful thing.

So, when one of our Smart Movers started cramping up during exercise class, the age old debate was sparked again… “I heard pickle juice is good”, “You should have more salt” etc. etc… I thought I’d have a look at the current research to help articulate what us physios bang on about day in, day out, DO MORE STRENGTH TRAINING, it’s the one stop shop for all musculoskeletal ailments, aches and pains, the closest thing we have to a miracle pill.

Let me explain that in relation to the painful cramp. A recent study on marathon runners found that the biggest differentiating factor in those who did get cramps and those that didn’t was that those that didn’t, participated in a regular resistance training program leading up to the marathon. As science slowly catches up to what we’ve anecdotally expected all along we explain that its quite simple.

Cramping is your muscles saying NO, ENOUGH! They are hitting fatigue. Muscles in fatigue screaming out for you to stop, and cramping does make you stop effectively. If you want to know more about the technical protective nature of cramping, google the Golgi tendon organ’s function. SO, how do we stop our muscles from hitting fatigue so soon? Build their strength and capacity so they don’t reach that point during exercise.