A muscle cramp is a painful, involuntary contraction of the muscle and occurs suddenly. Muscle cramp that occurs during or immediately after sports is also called 'exercise-associated muscle cramp'.

How exercise-associated muscle cramp occurs is not entirely clear. It is thought to be related to excessive muscle contraction. This assumption is reinforced by the fact that muscle cramp in (top-level) sport often occurs in extra time. In regular time, players rarely get cramp.

Even less is known about cramp that occurs without exercising. It may be related to increased activity in the spinal cord, causing the muscle to contract too much anyway. But hypotheses such as dehydration (dehydration from too little drinking) and mineral deficiency (mainly magnesium) are also mentioned.

Treatment of cramp

For exercise-associated muscle cramp, stretching is a good way to get rid of the pain within 10-20 seconds.

The treatment of cramp that occurs without exercising consists of drinking more and possibly taking extra magnesium. In addition, training the muscles is an important point of attention.

Advice

Do stretching exercises.
Drink enough (1.5 to 2 litres per day).
Drink less or no alcohol.
Try to exercise less often and less intensively for a while.
Some people benefit from a warm bath.

Muscle cramp

Treatment of cramp

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