Are you troubled by leg cramps?

Leg cramps are common, harmless, and typically last for a short amount of time anywhere from a few seconds to up to 10 minutes. Most people tend to have them at night or when resting. Leg cramps occur when a muscle in the leg tightens and causes sudden pain which makes it hard to move. Cramps typically affect the calf muscles or the back of the leg but occasionally can impact feet or thighs.

While massage doesn’t replace medical advice in the case of leg camps massage may offer additional support with the symptoms.

Massage may

  • Promote blood circulation.
  • Ease muscle tension.
  • Enhance flexibility.

Regular massage sessions may potentially reduce the frequency and intensity of leg cramp symptoms. In addition regularly stretching the muscles that cramp may help prevent the cramps or reduce their frequency or intensity.

Related Posts

  • How to prevent muscle cramps?

    I know previously I have discussed how to minimise the risk factors associate with muscle cramps including during pregnancy. Exercise Related Muscle Cramps May occur during, after or in some case many hours after vigorous activity.  In addition to minimising the risk factors I have previously documented you need to ensure you

    1. Don't exercise when injured - cramps can occur as a protective mechanism following an injury.
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    4. Cool down properly
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    Rest Cramps Night cramps and other rest cramps can often be prevented by regular stretching exercises particularly before going to bed.  The most common night cramps are in the calf muscles, to stretch this muscle
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    2. In bed while lying down, you can try flexing the ankle by pulling the toes up toward the head with the leg as straight as possible.

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    I previously explain what NMT or Neuromuscular Technique is.  In this blog post I want to focus on how NMT works. With NMT when the static pressure is applied to the muscle, a message is sent from the muscles (via the golgi tendons & the muscles spindles both of which are part of the nervous system) to the brain and then the muscle relaxes.  Within the muscles

    • Golgi tendons respond to load or force on the muscle
    • Muscle spindles respond to the length of the muscle
    The Golgi tendon operates as a protective feedback mechanism to control the tension of an active muscle by causing relaxation before the tendon tension becomes high enough to cause damage. As the muscle relaxes it may cause a change in length which causes the muscle spindles to be reset. There is a variety of ways that massage therapists utilise these mechanisms within a massage to trigger the body's self protection system to relax muscles.

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