Causes of Muscle Cramps

There are many causes of muscle cramps.

Certain medications (such as high blood pressure meds), certain diseases (diseases of the: kidney, liver, cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary/nervous systems, diabetes, etc.) certain disorders (such as within the nerves, liver, thyroid, etc.) can all cause cramps.

Insufficient blood flow to exercising muscles, due to narrowing arteries can cause cramps that will typically subside after stopping exercise activities.

Spinal nerve compression can cause cramps in the legs that typically get worse with walking. Many people find relief by leaning forward, such as when pushing a shopping cart, walker, etc.

Excessive alcohol consumption/alcoholism can lead to chronic cramping.

Muscle cramps can occur in the abdominal, arms, hands, or feet, but are most common in the legs, and specifically, the calf muscles.

Exercise, Nutrition, and Muscle Cramps

Most of the cramping personal trainers will see in their personal training clients will be those related to exercise, nutrition, and lifestyle. Exercising too hard, especially with personal training clients who are not yet conditioned for intense training programs, will be susceptible to cramping. Muscle strains can lead to muscle cramps.

Personal training clients working hard, outside, in high heat and humidity can also lead to muscle cramps, either due to dehydration and/or electrolyte imbalances due to excessive sweating.

Holding a position too long, such as the Plank position, can lead to muscle cramping. This is not to say that hard training, indoor athletes who sweat just as much, may not be just as susceptible to cramping as outdoor athletes.

Nutritionally, if your personal training client has an imbalance in their electrolytes, or is deficient in adequate amounts, it can easily lead to cramping.

The body's electrolytes are the minerals potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium, chloride, phosphate, and bicarbonate. Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electrical charge and are essential to keeping your body's physiology functioning, including nerve and muscle function, maintaining Acid-Base Balance (your blood strives to stay at a pH between 7.35 to 7.45 deviations from this balance can cause your body to be unwell), and keeping you hydrated.

In extreme cases, such as a person who consumes 3 gallons of water in less than an hour, hoping to fool a drug test, depleting your body of electrolytes can lead to death.

Severe electrolyte imbalances can cause muscle weakness and cramping, mental confusion/dizziness, convulsions/spasms, irregular/rapid heartbeats, general mental/body fatigue, headaches, and numbness/tingling.

Sodium, Prevention, and Treatments

In today's medical environment, most doctors will tell you to decrease sodium intake to prevent various medical conditions such as hypertension, however, hard-training athletes, in summer heat and humidity, will lose a lot of sodium in their sweat. Some scientists estimate that you can lose 20-40 mmol/liter of sweat, but this can vary greatly depending on the athlete and how accustomed they are to training in the heat. Studies show your body adapts to high-heat training by losing less sodium as an adaptation to regular sweating.

The maximum recommended daily intake of sodium in the USA is 2,300mg/day. Studies show that over 90% of the American population consumes more than the recommended, so most people will not need to increase their sodium intake. However, it is something to consider for your athletes who train hard, sweat hard, and experience cramping.

Preventing Muscle Cramps:

• Choose healthy nutritional sources of electrolytes.
• Stay hydrated: Keep your urine clear to nearly clear throughout the day.
• Drink plenty of water throughout the day, but especially, before, during, and after exercise.
• Always Warm-Up before exercise and stretch if necessary.
• Always Cool-Down after exercise and include stretching.

Avoid diuretics such as caffeine, alcohol, and chocolate, especially before/during exercise.

Dietary Sources for Electrolytes Include:

• Calcium: Milk/Dairy products, sardines, dark green leafy vegetables.
• Magnesium: Fruits/nuts.
• Potassium: Bananas, Avocados, Sweet potatoes, fruits/vegetables, Orange Juice.
• Sodium/chloride: Table salt/Sea salt.

If you are experiencing muscle cramps during the night, which will lead to disturbed sleep, make sure you stretch adequately after exercise, and consider stretching and/or light exercise before bed.

Risk Factors for Developing Muscle Cramps include:

• Age: You lose muscle mass as you age, requiring the remaining muscle mass to work harder for the same activities.
• Poor Conditioning: Not being in sufficient shape for the load you place on the body.
• Extreme Sweating: Leading to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance.
• Pregnancy: Women's bodies go through extreme changes during pregnancy that can result in cramping.
• Being Overweight/Obese: All physiological systems are depressed and degraded in overweight bodies.
• Medical Disorders: Diabetes, nervous system, liver, thyroid, kidney failure, alcoholism, etc.

Treatments for cramping:

• Hot cloth.
• Heating pad.
• Cold cloth.
• Ice.
• Over-the-counter-anti-inflammatory (i.e.: ibuprofen).

Treatment if your sleep is chronically interrupted by cramps:

• See your doctor and consult on the possibility of prescribing a muscle relaxer.

When to see your doctor?

• Most cramps last a few seconds to a few minutes. If it lasts longer, see your doctor.
• Soreness post-cramp episode can last a few hours to a few days. If it lasts longer, see your doctor.
• If cramps cause severe discomfort, leg swelling, redness, skin changes, muscle weakness, reoccur frequently, and/or all other treatments fail to bring relief, see your doctor.

Please remember, Personal Training is a completely different scope of practice from medicine, so no personal trainer is authorized to offer medical advice/practice medicine without a license. The advice offered here is to assist in relieving the discomfort that exercise training may cause a client.

I wish you all the best in your personal training careers.

_©June 2023