Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!ihnp4!houxm!mtuxo!mtsbb!lav
From: lav@mtsbb.UUCP (L.A.VALLONE)
Newsgroups: sci.med
Subject: Re: Re: Nocturnal Leg Cramps
Message-ID: <180@mtsbb.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-Oct-86 18:09:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: mtsbb.180
Posted: Mon Oct 20 18:09:00 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 21-Oct-86 06:47:16 EDT
References: <555@hdsvx1.UUCP> <1020@sunybcs.UUCP> <43@oliveb.UUCP> <435@uwmeecs.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T-Information Systems, Middletown, NJ
Lines: 34

> > In article <1020@sunybcs.UUCP> colonel@sunybcs.UUCP (Col. G. L. Sicherman) writes:
> > >Nobody seems to have responded yet, or is my news feed down again?  Anyway,
> > >Charley Horse ... The only treatment I know of is to point your toes, which
> > >makes it hurt worse but only temporarily.
> > 
> > How odd, I recieved the opposite advice: I was told, as a child, to jump out
> > of bed and gently but firmly *put weight* on the foot/leg.  This stretches
> > the cramped muscle (mine were always in the back of the leg, and still are),
> > the opposite of pointing the toes, which minimizes pulling on the cramp.
> > 
> well pointing the toes doesnt sound too good, it would tense up the muscle
> which is already in pain from being tensed.  stretching out the muscle 
> sounds a lot better.  i think the theory is good, but i personally have 
> found it incredibly painful.  my method is to massage the muscle.
> when it relaxes i have to be careful not to tense it at all for a few minutes
> or it will start spasming again.  this is when stretching it by (trying to)
> stand up helps me.
> i think the original quesition was not what to do once this occurs - 
> everybody figures out SOMETHING to do pretty darn quick- but rather how
> to prevent it from recurring.  nobody has really rebuted my statement that
> in most (?) people a mineral deficiency is to blame.

When I was younger, I was getting nocturnal leg cramps about once
a week (which I assume is fairly often) but only during the
summer months (much less frequently during the winter).
Curiously enough, the cramps disappeared after I joined my
high school track team.  Since my diet hadn't changed I assumed
(and still do) that this was due to the stretching exercises that
preceded my track workouts.  The problem has never surfaced
again.  This assumption is totally empirical based on a sample of 1.
-- 

Lee Vallone		AT&T Information Systems	Merlin
{... ihnp4, mtuxo}!mtsbb!lav