Muscle Cramps – What they are and how to beat them
You don’t have to be old or an athlete to suffer from muscle pain. Most painful muscle conditions are caused by simple ‘overuse injury’. Over use can be caused by running 15 miles and pulling your hamstring, or by sitting at a desk all day with your shoulders hunched.
Muscles work on an ‘agonist and antagonist’ basis – the simplest example is the biceps and triceps. For the biceps to contract, the triceps have to relax. Another example would be the quadriceps and hamstrings in the thighs, or the pectoralis in the chest and trapezius in the upper back. When there is an imbalance or over use issue, a part of the muscle will be shortened (or contracted) and it’s antagonist will be weak and lengthened, for example, usually when someone has rounded shoulders, the pectoralis is shortened and the trapezius is lengthened. The problem with muscles is that they only do exactly what is asked of them. If you sit hunched at a desk all day, your shoulder muscles will retain a memory of that, and just keep their hunched position, even when you go home. Similarly, sat at a desk, one’s leg are bent all day and therefore the hamstrings tend to shorten, which can refer pain to the lower back.
Massage and stretching can help as they stretch out and relax shortened muscle fibres. Exercise is also helpful, in order to strengthen weak, lengthened muscles and therefore balance muscle tonicity.
Muscle contraction is dependant upon calcium, sodium and potassium. Calcium allows a process to start in which sodium rushes into the muscle cell, and potassium trickles out. This causes the muscle fibre to become positively charged, and create and action potential. Magnesium is needed to close the calcium channels, and therefore stop this process, so that the muscle can relax. An imbalance of any of these minerals can cause muscle cramps. Magnesium deficiency is incredibly common in the UK. Leafy green vegetbles are a good source of magnesium, but only if grown in magnesium rich soil, and most of our soil is depleted in magnesium through intensive farming. Lime also cancels out magnesium, and UK soil is rich in lime. Common symptoms of magnesium deficiency are muscle spasms such as eyelid twitches, restless legs, quivering tongue, anxiety, irregular heartbeat. I see a lot of this in my clinic and supplementation usually sorts out the problem.
Too much sodium can also be a problem. This is common in the UK diet. Dehydration too, this will cause a high concentration of sodium in the tissues. Do you drink your 2 litres per day?
Therefore, before you go to your doctor with back pain, try some of the tips here; a healthy balanced diet, multi vitamin and mineral, magnesium supplements, lots of water, exercise and massage. I know most of it isn’t the easy answer you want, but the best things need to be worked for!
