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Customer question:

What causes muscle spasms, and why do they occur? What to do when they appear?

Anonymous customer.

Answer:

The contraction and tightening of muscles cause muscle spasms. Muscle spasms are frequent, involuntary, and unpredictable. While there are steps you can take to prevent muscle spasms or at least ease them when they occur, these methods are not always reliable. Most often, muscle relaxants, stretching, and massage will help.

Muscle cramps are very common and can affect any of your muscles. They can involve part of a muscle, a whole muscle, or even several muscle groups. The most common targets for muscle spasms are the thighs, calves, and feet.

The intensity of a muscle spasm can range from mild and pronounced to severe and very intense pain. A spastic muscle is stiffer to the touch than usual and visibly distorted when cramping. Muscle twitching may also occur.

Muscle cramps can happen to anyone, regardless of age or activity. It can occur when you walk, sit, exercise, or sleep. Some individuals are prone to muscle cramps and experience them regularly during physical activity.

What causes muscle spasms?

The exact cause of muscle spasms is unknown, but some experts believe that in most cases, the following may be to blame:

• not enough stretch
• muscle fatigue
• exercise in the heat
• dehydration
• lack of electrolytes (salt and minerals such as potassium, magnesium, and calcium)
• restriction of blood supply
• stress
• high-intensity exercises

Possible causes of night cramps are:

• long-term sitting
• muscle overuse
• long-term condition of concrete floors
• improper sitting

What to do when a cramp occurs?

There are a few steps you can take to ease the cramp and its effects:

• stretch the affected area
• massage the affected area with your hands or a massage roller
• get up and walk around
• apply a warm or cold compress to the affected area
• treat yourself to a nice warm bath
• take pain relievers such as ibuprofen or paracetamol

Medication Detralex for the relief of spasms in the upper leg area

Detralex is a medicine used to treat the symptoms of chronic venous disease. Chronic venous disease is a disease of the veins in the legs, in which the blood drains too slowly from the lower limbs, so the fluid passes through the wall of the capillaries (smallest vessels) and collects in the tissue.

Vin disease manifests as painful or tired legs, feeling of heavy legs, itching, night cramps in the legs, the appearance of varicose veins (varicose veins) on the legs, and swelling.

When to see a doctor?

Although muscle cramps are usually harmless, they can be associated with more serious medical conditions. For example, Atherosclerosis is a condition that causes the arteries to narrow. In an individual with atherosclerosis, the blood flow in the extremities can be compromised, leading to a lack of oxygen and nutrients - which can cause muscle spasms.

Nerve compression in the lumbar spinal cord, the lowest major part of the spinal cord, can be another trigger for muscle spasms, especially leg cramps, a condition made worse by walking long distances.

Also, muscle spasms are associated with neurodegenerative conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Interesting reading: Leg cramps

Interesting reading: Upper leg cramps