A: A cramp is a sudden, involuntary tightening of a muscle or a gaggle of muscle tissues that an individual can’t instantly loosen up. Because the muscle locks up abruptly, it typically looks like a pointy knot and may damage for a couple of seconds to a number of minutes.
Muscle cramps happen in elements of the legs or fingers on account of dehydration, train or low potassium or magnesium ranges. Menstrual cramps within the uterus are hormone-pushed contractions to expel the uterine lining. Stomach cramps happen as a consequence of fuel, infections and/or in folks with irritable bowel syndrome.
In all circumstances, a cramp happens when muscle cells have change into careworn and begin to misfire. People are at larger danger of cramped muscle tissues if they’ve diabetes, thyroid issues or kidney illness or in the event that they’re taking specific medicine.
To relieve a cramped muscle, docs have suggested pausing the stress-inflicting exercise and gently stretching the muscle, massaging the realm, making use of warmth to loosen up the tightness, and ingesting a number of water. It additionally helps to heat up earlier than the exercise to arrange the muscle tissues.
