Two days ago I woke up with excruciating pain in my right calf, it had seized up and gone hard.
My wife said this was cramp but I was thinking ‘stop talking horse shit woman this ain’t no cramp its much worse’ but after chatting to a few pals I realise this was cramp, holy shit never had it before I didn’t realise it was so painful and/or im so much of a pussy
Anyway my calf was tight all day, and I hoped it wouldn’t happen again.
Then this morning at 5am bang I jump out of bed same shit in my left calf, its still tight and sore now like a muscle pull, I am supposed to be playing football at 12
Any tips on preventing bed cramps please please please
Two days ago I woke up with excruciating pain in my right calf, it had seized up and gone hard.
My wife said this was cramp but I was thinking ‘stop talking horse shit woman this ain’t no cramp its much worse’ but after chatting to a few pals I realise this was cramp, holy shit never had it before I didn’t realise it was so painful and/or im so much of a pussy
Anyway my calf was tight all day, and I hoped it wouldn’t happen again.
Then this morning at 5am bang I jump out of bed same shit in my left calf, its still tight and sore now like a muscle pull, I am supposed to be playing football at 12
Any tips on preventing bed cramps please please please :)[/quote]
happens to me a lot. i dont usually train my calves but still it used to happen to me once or twice a month. i started training calves for the first time this month and it happened to me every night on the day i trained my calves.
so there’s always two times a month or so that i wake up screaming.
last time i did my calves tho, i remembered to stretch at night while i was lying in bed. the cramp usually happens when you’re asleep and wake up and (automatically) stretch your leg. so before i went to sleep while lying in bed, i made sure to stretch it the same way for at least 60 seconds each leg. i had no cramps. dunno if it had anything to do with the stretching or not.
Two days ago I woke up with excruciating pain in my right calf, it had seized up and gone hard.
My wife said this was cramp but I was thinking ‘stop talking horse shit woman this ain’t no cramp its much worse’ but after chatting to a few pals I realise this was cramp, holy shit never had it before I didn’t realise it was so painful and/or im so much of a pussy
Anyway my calf was tight all day, and I hoped it wouldn’t happen again.
Then this morning at 5am bang I jump out of bed same shit in my left calf, its still tight and sore now like a muscle pull, I am supposed to be playing football at 12
Any tips on preventing bed cramps please please please :)[/quote]
Man the same thing has happened to me a few times a few years ago, I know exactly what you mean.
When you tell people youve got cramp they think its nothing but I know what you mean dude, that is some extremly painful shit. A few times I woke up in absolute agony in my calf and it was sore for about a week. A few things that were suggested to me where bananas (for potassium) and something called centrium metallicum which I never actually tried but might be worth checking out. Its happened a few times in recent years but not nearly as bad.
This is the only time Ive heard of anyone else with the same thing, let me know how it goes.
I do remember having this problem like maybe 2 or 3 times when I was around 18??? But yeah your calf hurts so bad that you can’t straighten your leg and you gotta just lay there and roll around. Then you lay there until you can fall back asleep with tears in your eyes…but by the time I woke back up, I’m pretty sure it was gone on every occasion.
Bizarrely this happened to me in the gym today, i was doing fat-boy pull ups and boom! my right calf goes, i was laying on the floor in agony, i tried to massage it off, but it seemed to aggrivate it,so i layed there for about a minute until it subsided. Calf still smarts now, it happened before while doing pull ups about 7 months ago. But never while im sleeping, all i known is that it hurts like hell.
Whenever a cramp starts to come on, I’ve learned to point my toes up right when it’s about to get the worst. I used to have them all the time and this works like a charm.
To release any cramp, you need to contract the opposite muscle. For leg cramps, that means you flex your foot as if you were trying to touch your knees with your toes (the reverse of a calf raise). Or sit back and enjoy it knowing that it is a great calf workout.
I’ve had what you’re describing, and I wouldn’t even call it a cramp, since it is much more painful. I think it’s actually called a charlie horse.
From Google, seems that it’s decently common for people to wake up with a calf charlie horse.
It usually happens for me when I overcontract my calf while doing something – some of the worst ones I’ve had were in the pool, trying to push off bottom when there was none (to reach for a ball during water polo).
Usually, I just beat the fuck out of my calf with my fist and try to pull my foot the other way. Stretching the calf out the opposite way seems to produce the best results, even though it’s painful and counter-intuitive to do so. I have no idea if there is much else you can do once it starts, but there may be ways of preventing this if it just happens randomly.
I was getting them pretty frequently about 6 months ago too…definity do the toe point thing like everyone has said…it’s hard to do when you’re in so much pain but if you do it’ll stop pretty quick.
also, people told me I had was getting the leg cramps because of low potassium so I started eating a banana or two a day. I haven’t had any leg cramps in a while…not sure if it helped but it certainly couldn’t hurt to give it a try.
I’ve alwase heard that night cramps were caused by potasium deficencies. I had on eabout 2 nights ago. The flexing in the opposite direction helps, if you can get to it before your toes start to curl under.
I do remember having this problem like maybe 2 or 3 times when I was around 18??? But yeah your calf hurts so bad that you can’t straighten your leg and you gotta just lay there and roll around. Then you lay there until you can fall back asleep with tears in your eyes…but by the time I woke back up, I’m pretty sure it was gone on every occasion.[/quote]
I am 30, but I didn’t have tears in my eyes so maybe im not as much of a pussy as I thought.
I take a multivit and eat 2-3 bananas a day, I have had on on each leg now so hopefully thats it!
I get these fairly often. I can feel the cramp coming on in my sleep, and there is no stopping it. Believe me , I’ve tried stretching and flexing every which way but loose. The muscle is literally in a ball and the pain is enough to make you yell out loud, which I usually do for effect and sympathy. I jump out of bed and hobble around, a cold tile floor usually helps, until the agony is down to a dull roar. Some residual soreness remains for about 24 hours. I found this excerpt from the Yale sports medicine page:
The situations that are likely to cause “charlie horse” have one thing in common: incomplete muscular coordination. Some examples include:
Physical activity by untrained people or after a long pause in athletic training
Unfamiliar movements by well-trained athletes
Extreme stresses. So-called “eccentric contractions” are particularly likely to cause aching muscles. Such contractions occur when a muscle simultaneously works and stretches (e.g. running downhill)
One thing I’ve found is that if the bed covers are too tight around my feet that they will be “stuck” in a toes pointed fashioned (think of a luge position) for long periods during sleep, which can help the muscle into contracting on its own and balling up if it was prone to do so to begin with. If this is the case, make sure there is room for your feet to move freely before falling asleep.
I’ve found that standing on the foot and forcing weight down onto it (it won’t go on its own) in order to stretch out the calf works for me. Sometimes it takes a little while though. Make sure you get plenty of water, ZMA and potassium too.
A few years ago this would happen to me at night in the calf area. I was using too much creatine and not cycling it’s use (3 wks. on/1 wk. off). I also did not keep myself hydrated with enough water. Just a thought.
[quote]kevbo wrote:
Whenever a cramp starts to come on, I’ve learned to point my toes up right when it’s about to get the worst. I used to have them all the time and this works like a charm.[/quote]
I’ve learned to pull up on the front of the foot with one hand, to stretch out the calf muscle, while massaging the problem area with the other hand.
I used to get these all the time from playing basketball. Got one the other day from swimming sprints with kick fins. It would suck to have them sneak up on you at night though.
I should probably mention that at the time this was happening to me I had a terrible diet and smoked a load of weed!!
I have a much healthier lifestyle now and although I still occasionally get bed cramps they are much less severe and the pain usually resides in less than a day.
I don’t know if there is a connection but I seem to get them the night after some strenuous activity where I lost a lot of sweat. Working in the yard, working out in my garage in high humidity, etc. I can also feel them coming on in my sleep but can’t prevent them by stretching.
