Why Do You Have Nighttime Leg Cramps?
By Sara Butler
The chiropractors at The Joint see a lot of patients who complain of problems sleeping. One of the biggest sleep snatchers is leg cramps. According to the National Institutes of Health, about 60 percent of adults experience leg cramps at night, usually in the foot, calf, or hamstrings. Here’s what you need to know about the causes of leg cramps and how the chiropractors at The Joint can help.
The Cause
There are a few things that can cause leg cramps in adults. Researchers aren’t quite sure what causes leg cramps at night and the truth is that the reason can differ from person to person. The biggest culprits are thought to be:
- Chairs – Sitting for hours each day may catch up with you at night and sitting in a chair all day might cause muscle tension that results in leg cramps.
- Beds – When you lie in bed at night, your feet are in what’s called the plantar flexion position where the toes point away from you. This shortens the muscles in the calf, causing cramping from when you do go to move after keeping it in a position for several hours.
- Weather – Some researchers hypothesize that the weather can impact leg cramps at night due to dehydration in hot weather or diets lacking in certain vitamins that tend to shift with the seasons.
What To Do
If you are facing leg cramps at night, make sure to consult a medical professional such as your chiropractor at The Joint. The cramps may be a side effect of a medication you’re taking or you may have a deficiency in a vitamin or mineral that is contributing to the problem. The chiropractor can take a close look at your diet and your lifestyle choices to help you figure out why leg cramps are a problem for you.
When you’re up in the middle of the night because your leg muscles are cramping, you should try to take a drink of water and get up to stretch the muscle out. It might be painful at first, but eventually stretching it out will help you to deal with the pain temporarily until you can get to the chiropractor and figure out what’s really going on.
If you struggle with leg cramps, come into The Joint Chiropractic today!
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Fort Worth, Tex.