The Best Ways to Handle Muscle Cramps

劳伦·贝斯基(Lauren Bedosky)
经过劳伦·贝斯基(Lauren Bedosky)
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The Best Ways to Handle Muscle Cramps

肌肉痉挛。查理马。肌肉痉挛。不管您称它们为什么,这些抽搐都是彻头彻尾的烦人 - 更不用说痛苦了 - 尤其是当它们在您的锻炼过程中或您睡觉时击中时。

Here’s what you need to know about cramps and how to deal with them when they strike.

WHAT CAUSES MUSCLE CRAMPS?

肌肉痉挛是肌肉的非自愿和有力的收缩。这些可以持续几秒钟或长达15分钟 - 而且通常在大腿,小腿,脚拱,手臂,手,腹部和肋骨笼中撞击。Cleveland Clinic

尽管有名字,但肌肉抽筋不是肌肉问题,它们是一个神经问题。Dr. Scott Garrison,,,,an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Alberta who’s conducted research on nocturnal leg cramps.

Your muscles only contract when your nervous system tells them to, and it sends this message to the target muscle (or muscles) via nerve cells called motor neurons. When your nervous system fires these motor neurons faster than usual, you wind up with muscle cramps.

加里森说:“我们无法确切告诉你为什么神经这样做,但这是神经有错的,而不是肌肉。”

There are two common types of muscle cramps: nocturnal and exercise-associated.

Though nocturnal and exercise-associated muscle cramps look and feel similarly, their triggers differ.

As the name suggests, nocturnal cramps happen during the night (usually when you’ve been asleep for a period of time) and typically hit the calves. “The trigger appears to be the longer that you are immobile, the more likely you are to cramp,” Garrison says.

同时,与运动相关的抽筋完全相反。当您过度努力或在炎热的天气中锻炼时,它们会碰到。

HOW TO TREAT NOCTURNAL MUSCLE CRAMPS

夜间抽筋可以打击任何人(one study加里森说,有多达60%的成年人经历了夜间腿抽筋),但有些人比其他人更容易出现。即孕妇,儿童,神经疾病的人和50岁以上的人(最多33%的50岁以上人群受到夜间腿部抽筋的影响。BMC Family Medicine)。

有趣的是,研究还显示夜间腿抽筋可能是季节性的:夏季顶峰的抽筋症状大约是冬季中期的两倍。尽管研究人员尚不知道为什么,但该研究的主要研究人员的加里森推测,可能是神经试图重新生长以弥补丢失的神经元。他说:“可以想象,人类的生理学具有一定的季节性,也许我们在夏天的资源通常更丰富的夏季进行了更多的增长和修复。”

尽管您对年龄或许多其他因素的因素做不到的事情,但您可以采取一些步骤来最大程度地减少它们的发生。

例如,某些药物可以增加您夜间抽筋的几率。驻军说:“试图阻止抽筋的最有用的事情是寻找您正在使用的药物。”

这两个最大的罪魁祸首是β激动剂(通常用于治疗哮喘和慢性阻塞性肺疾病)和一种称为含钾的利尿剂的血压药物。如果您对夜间抽筋感到困扰,并且目前服用任何一种药物,驻军建议您与医生交谈,看看您是否可以切换到其他东西。

与腿抽筋有紧密联系的其他药物包括萘普生(例如,aleve),静脉注射铁蔗糖(用于治疗铁缺乏贫血in patients with chronic kidney disease), conjugated estrogens (a prescription used to treat symptoms of menopause), raloxifene (用于治疗和预防骨质疏松症并降低绝经后妇女中侵袭性乳腺癌的风险)和teriparatide(另一种osteoporosis medication), according to a 2012 study in美国家庭医生

加里森说,总的来说,睡前伸展不太可能有帮助。也就是说,一项研究理疗杂志发现床前伸展可降低55岁以上成年人的夜间腿抽筋的频率和严重程度。但是,anecdotal evidence suggests几分钟的轻松运动(即,在固定自行车或跑步机上进行快速训练)可以缓解夜间腿抽筋。

Quinine, an effective treatment for malaria, may also reduce cramps, but due to potential health risks, theFDA has advised U.S. physiciansagainst prescribing it for muscle cramps.

如果您找不到夜间腿抽筋的缓解,请参见您的医生,他们可能会提供替代建议或确定造成或为您的夜间腿部抽筋做出贡献的潜在问题。

如何治疗肌肉抽筋

Stretching before exercise probably won’t prevent cramps from hitting mid-workout, Garrison says. “Having said that, stretching while you are cramping is highly likely to stop the cramp.”

如果抽筋罢工在你锻炼时,你的st bet to get rid of it is to stretch the muscle, “which, unfortunately, is the exact opposite thing that you want to do, because it hurts to do that,” Garrison says.

There are also a couple of things you can do to try to prevent muscle cramps from happening at all. First, as exercise-associated muscle cramps often occur as a result of overexertion, watch your workout intensity — especially if you’re prone to cramping.

脱水may also make you more prone to mid-workout muscle cramps, especially if you’re exercising in the heat. Be sure to喝很多液体throughout the day and even more while you’re exercising.

About the Author

劳伦·贝斯基(Lauren Bedosky)
劳伦·贝斯基(Lauren Bedosky)

Lauren is a freelance fitness writer who specializes in covering running and strength training topics. She writes for a variety of national publications, includingMen’s Health,,,,跑步者的世界,,,,形状andWomen’s Running。She lives in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, with her husband and their three dogs.

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