Contents:
- Medical Video: 6 Exercises to Kill Chronic Knee, Foot or Hip Pain
- What are the causes of leg cramps?
- 1. Dehydration
- 2. Fatigue
- 3. The wrong sitting or standing position
- 4. Certain medicines
- 5. Pregnancy
- 6. Certain diseases
Medical Video: 6 Exercises to Kill Chronic Knee, Foot or Hip Pain
Experiencing leg cramps while on the move is certainly very painful. Just to move the foot hurts, especially when walking. This is generally caused by the effects of sports that are too intense. However, the cause of leg cramps can also be caused by other things, you know.
What are the causes of leg cramps?
Foot cramps generally occur because the muscles and nerves in the legs experience excessive contractions to trigger pain. The most common causes of leg cramps include:
1. Dehydration
Dehydration is the most common cause of leg cramps. Todd J. Sontag, DO, a family doctor from Orlando Health Physician Associates, revealed to Health that lack of body fluids causes nerve endings to become more sensitive.
As a result, the nerves can easily contract excessively and suppress the motor nerve end causing leg cramps. This condition can be aggravated if you often exercise in the hot sun.
2. Fatigue
The cause of leg cramps can occur due to fatigue due to the activities you do every day. For example sports that involve a lot of running such as soccer or basketball, leg lifting, boot camp, and so on.
Activities that are too heavy result in muscle fatigue and trigger leg cramps. Especially if you spend a lot of activity during hot weather and are at risk of dehydration, this can worsen leg cramps.
3. The wrong sitting or standing position
Muscle flexibility is determined by the balance of your posture every day, whether lying down, sitting or standing. If you are used to sitting for a long time but suddenly have to stand in the ticket line for a long time, or vice versa, then you can experience leg cramps.
However, this does not mean too long sitting is also good for flexibility of your muscles. Because, over time sitting can actually make muscle fibers become stiff and cramp easily.
4. Certain medicines
Certain types of drugs can be the cause of your current leg cramps. Some types of drugs that have side effects of leg cramps include hypertension drugs, osteoporosis drugs, asthma medications, pain relievers, statins, and birth control pills.
5. Pregnancy
Women who are pregnant are at high risk for leg cramps, especially in the second and third trimesters. This happens because pregnant women are prone to lack of magnesium and potassium which can trigger leg cramps.
6. Certain diseases
Not exercising or pregnant, but does the leg cramps go away? It could be that you have certain diseases.
Some diseases that can trigger leg cramps include peripheral arterial disease, multiple sclerosis, joint calcification (osteoarthritis), peripheral neuropathy, kidney failure, type 2 diabetes, and hypothyroidism. So, immediately consult a doctor to determine the cause of your leg cramps.
