Cramp
Cramp is an extremely common injury amongst athletes as it often occurs due to overuse or dehydration. It involves sudden contractions of one or more muscles, prompting pain and usually the inability to use that muscle for some considerable time.
Cramp is a short term injury and can usually be rectified reasonably quickly. In severe cases, the contractions might be so strong that nearby muscle fibres are damaged, but even then the injury doesn’t extend into a long term problem and is not permanent.
Symptoms
Cramp often occurs in the legs and if you begin to feel sudden muscle spasms or contractions, there’s a chance you’ve got this injury. Pain is likely to follow and in the majority of cases, you will be unable to use the affected part of the body for a short period.
Another symptom, albeit one that doesn’t affect as many people, is the sighting of lumps beneath the skin. If cramp is the injury, these lumps will probably be a hard area of muscle.
Causes
Overuse is the biggest cause of cramp and this can be seen in most professional sports. For example, if a game of soccer goes beyond 90 minutes, players often go down with cramp and need treatment so they can regain mobility in their legs. Dehydration can be another cause and is again related to athletes. Also, low levels of potassium and salt are thought to encourage this injury as well.
However, the actual cause of cramp has still not been determined. While the above seem to provoke the injury, why they do this is still not known.
Treatment
Treatment for cramp usually involves muscle stretches. Using the soccer example again, the players who go down with cramp in their legs usually get a teammate to hold their leg straight in an upwards position. This stretches the muscles and after a while, the pain will start to dwindle.
Another technique is to use cold or heat treatment. Most sufferers find by holding a cold or heating pad against the affected area helps improve the injury. Similarly, a hot bath can also soothe the pain.
If you go and see a doctor for cramp they will probably give you a list of exercises and stretches for the affected area. In very few cases do they prescribe medication, although if the cramp is disturbing your sleep they may be tempted to offer a medication to calm the muscles.
For those who want to take the treatment one step further, a sports massage could be recommended. The idea of this is to stimulate the blood flow around the injured area, which should help relieve the pain. While this is definitely a good treatment method, it should only be considered once the serious pain from the injury has eased. If a massage was performed while the cramp was in its early stages, there’s a chance that there will still be bleeding in the area and a massage could worsen this bleeding.
Prevention
One of the reasons why experts always suggest a warm up is to prevent injuries like cramp. By stretching the muscles, the body is being prepared for sport and these injuries are less likely to occur. Even if you don’t play a sport and you experience the cramp when you go to bed, it could be an idea to perform these stretches on a night.
As dehydration can also cause cramp, another obvious prevention method is to drink plenty of fluid. The recommended intake of water for the average person is at least 2l, although if you play sport you should aim to consume much more.