It's happened before on occasion. From the bliss if sound sleep, you are suddenly awakened by a painful muscle cramp in your leg. Lately though, you've been awakened by leg cramps several times a week.

Should you be concerned?

Muscle cramps like this are fairly common among athletes and older adults. Many times they are harmless. But they can sometimes be brought on by certain medications or they may indicate the presence of certain disorders.

Muscle Movement

Your muscles are made of many fibers that can contract and relax. This allows the fibers to shorten and lengthen according to the movement you are making at the time.

Muscle cramps differ from stiffness or leg pain. A cramp occurs when a muscle contracts involuntarily in a sudden, intense manner, producing a lump of tightened muscle you can feel with your hand. It is typically a response to a stress or chemical imbalance in the environment.

Sorting out the cause

Some common causes of muscle cramps include:

Muscle overuse, strain or prolonged exercise.

Being dehydrated and losing too much salt due to exercise or due to prolonged illness involving vomiting or diarrhea.

Low levels of calcium, or certain medications.

Less commonly, muscle cramps may be caused by disease affecting your peripheral nerves, the nerves that extend from your spinal cord to nearly all other parts of your body.

When to see your doctor

Muscle cramps often have no identifiable cause. But if you have frequent, severe muscle cramps, a doctor's visit is appropriate. You will likely have tests that include a neurologic exam and possibly other testing. You may be referred to a specialist in neuromuscular diseases.

What you can do

Below are several preventative steps you can take to curb or avoid muscle cramps:

Drink fluids to avoid dehydration- re-hydrating with sport drinks as advisable with sustained heavy exercise and sweating.

Warm up before intense exercise. Cool down and stretch after exercise. Before bed, gently stretch muscles that tend to cramp at night.

If you do get a leg or foot cramp, gently stretch the contracted muscle for relief. You may find it helps to compress or massage the affected muscle. Sometimes a heating pad, or hot bath may offer relief. If your muscle cramps, and does not respond to these preventative measures, your doctor may suggest taking medication, to help relieve cramping.

This article brought to you by the Soldotna Medical Clinic - 262-5115