Cramps..

[Illumination]

Within the past 2 weeks, I've woken up in the middle of the night, and had a sudden cramp in my leg, twice in my right leg and once in my left leg. Why does this happen? It never ever happened to me before.. the one in my left leg (4 or 5 cramps in my left leg at that time, one after the other) was so bad that I had to get my brother to drive me to school, and I only live 300m or so away from school and I was still there 15 minutes late or something. I couldn't walk properly that time... I had one in my right leg this morning which caused me to limp a bit to school.

[DiscordantNote]

Try stretching your leg muscles when you get up and rubbing your legs where it hurts; this usually works. If it continues on for a couple more days and/or gets worse, you should see a doctor because there could be something wrong with your leg.

[Illumination]

Try stretching your leg muscles when you get up and rubbing your legs where it hurts; this usually works. If it continues on for a couple more days and/or gets worse, you should see a doctor because there could be something wrong with your leg.

Hmm.. I could try that.. but what I want to know is how to avoid it and why I'm getting it..

[Crescendo]

The only way to really prevent that is to stretch at least 30 minutes every week, but try and do more stretching if it really bothers you. If you look it up, google has a bunch of really helpful sites about stretching and cramps like that.

[Caesara]

I've had those before, and my doctor told me what was MY problem, at least. D'you wear shoes with high soles during the day? If so, when you take them off at night and suddenly lose that inch or so under you, it causes your leg muscles to cramp up. You have to stretch your legs daily to get it to go away. Try using a towel and wrapping it around your foot, then stretching your leg out and pulling on the towel. (Oh, and heat usually helps for the cramps themselves).

Hope that helps. Like I said, it may be something different for you.

[BeDeviled]

I'm adding in my 2 cents....

make sure you're drinking plenty of water, and try eating a banana and see if that helps, sometimes leg cramps are a way of telling you that you need an extra bit of potassium in your body, same with the water.

[jellyoflight]

I get lots of cramps when I'm on the computer, ones so bad that I can hardly walk and my face is screwed up in pain >.<

Try rubbing your foot and shaking it at the same time, to get the circulation back.

[Bangel]

Hmmm... well, I'm not a doctor, so I can't be sure on any of this, but I think you should stretch more and move around more often. I believe cramps can be caused from staying in one place without major movement. Also, as BeDeviled said, trying drinking more water or eat a few more bananas than usual.

I hope this helps!

[vkceankraz]

Oh dear, Wayne, those sound unpleasant. I used to wake up in the middle of the night with random cramps too-- I think they're called Charlie Horses? I'm not sure.
But what I do is climb out of bed, and like... sort of.. how do I explain this... make like you're standing on your tippy toes while massaging the calf.
And yes, I was about to suggest eating more potassium, which helps avoid cramps all together. Bananas have a ton of potassium (learned that from Honey We Shrunk Ourselves).

[Christopher]

You are going to have to do proper stretches during the day.

[uniquelyput]

I'm adding in my 2 cents....

make sure you're drinking plenty of water, and try eating a banana and see if that helps, sometimes leg cramps are a way of telling you that you need an extra bit of potassium in your body, same with the water.

Yeah, it could be a vitamin shortage (and if you're getting what people call Charlie Horses, that results from a vitamin shortage, I believe). So yeah, watch your diet and if you aren't into fruits and veggies and stuff, I guess take a multivitamin and see if that helps.

[Axe]

Drink. Lots of water!

[Lynx]

Sometimes I would get cramps when I started playing soccer, I would usually put a heating pad in the leg that was bothering me and they would go away, as long as the pad was wrapped tight, massages would help too.

[Sakura]

I think that if you don't stretch your leg muscles they'll become a little stiff. Maybe that's the case? Do some leg stretches and see if it helps.

[Illumination]

Thanks everyone.. I told my mum to get me some bananas I think it's because of my diet. I'm not into fruits and veggies, they're not my thing . I play soccer a lot and I run around a lot. The cramps I get after soccer are usually 1-3 hours after I played though. Yea.. I don't think these cramps I'm talking about are from soccer, it's my diet I guess.. Thanks again

Er.. lockable