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MX, SX & Off-Road Discussions
General Moto | Off-Topic Posts
Cause of leg cramps?
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[QUOTE="bbbom, post: 655713, member: 16301"] I have experienced cramps in my calves for most of my life - when I was a senior in HS (llllooonnnggg time ago) I was growing extremely fast and would get horrendous cramps nearly every night. I was also very active so that aggravated the condition. I outgrew most of that but I still get them quite often when riding. I get them when I try to put my foot down quickly or sometimes in the leg I'm using to hold my bike up while starting it. I've even had them after crashing with the bike on top of my leg - that's always a fun one. The reason I asked where you were cramping was because several years ago I would get cramps in my thigh (now THAT hurts) and found it was stemming from my lower back - made for some exciting drives when the right leg was in a knot!! I agree potassium, hydration, electrolytes, etc. are important and I've heard that an anti-inflammatory works well, but be careful they can thin the blood too. Magnesium deficiency is probably more to blame for cramps than Potassium though. Magnesium deficiency is very common since carbonated beverages remove Magnesium from your body. Magnesium helps make the muscles relax, as opposed to Calcium which helps them to contract. The link between Calcium and Magnesium is important - you need both in a fairly specific ratio in order for the body to properly utilize the minerals. A good Calcium supplement that includes Magnesium is an easy way to get the right ratio plus eating your veggies. I take a multi-vitamin regularly, try to eat well with lots of veggies and fruit (and beer - oops there goes the Mg), workout regularly and try to stretch but I still get cramps. I find that if I warm up a bit & stretch my calves early in a ride then try to stretch them throughout the ride it helps. Just recently, (yesterday at lunch) I came across an interesting article on hydration though, in Runner's World. The link is here: [url]http://www.runnersworld.com/home/0,1300,2-48-116-5382,00.html[/url] Essentially it points out the dangers of overhydration (hyponatremia) which is a factor for marathon runners (to the point of death due to drinking too much fluid). It's an interesting article but didn't really correlate much to my concerns for dirtbiking BUT then I came across this article: [url]http://www.drskantze.com/health/legcramps.htm[/url] again not too significant for my concerns except for this statement: I feel like Nephron now!! ;) So, it all seems to correlate. Maybe we are drinking too much water. Like the Runner's World article says, drink sports drinks with electolytes because the water is thinning out the necessary minerals. Or maybe you are pregnant since leg cramps seem to be a side effect of that also (I'm not I just get leg cramps for fun)!! [/QUOTE]
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MX, SX & Off-Road Discussions
General Moto | Off-Topic Posts
Cause of leg cramps?
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