# Persistent Inner Thigh Cramps-Help!



## Roadrider22 (May 24, 2006)

After long and rigerous riding sessions I seem to be prone to severe inner thigh cramping in the evening after a morning ride. The cramps run from just above my knee to the groin area and I don't even need to say how painful they are. I keep myself well hydrated and supplement with potassium pills. Any suggestions?  Could it be a fitting issue?


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## SantaCruz (Mar 22, 2002)

Roadrider22 said:


> After long and rigerous riding sessions....
> 
> 
> > If you are hydrated and sufficiently supplemented maybe maybe you need to build up to the harder work-outs more gradually. Or try some of the cycling specific supplements/foods before, during and after your hard rides to see if that works.
> ...


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## lawrence (May 17, 2005)

I don't have much of an answer for you but a similar experience. If it matters to this, I'm 55 years old.

I'm very active sports wise. I have been all my life. Running marathons, semi-pro tennis, surfing, rock cIimbing and mountain climbing, among other stuff and most recently, mixed martial arts/ultimate fighting. But I never biked much until this past 1 1/2 year. Ever since I was a teenager, I use to get hamstring cramps at night, all the time, until I took up biking. I could always walk them out or rub them. I never got inner thigh cramping until I took up heavy biking. Just before I biked I was working out with weights, leg pressing 1,000 lbs with my legs and regularly doing 10-15 reps of 800 lbs. Now since I've taken up biking on a regularly and "heavy" basis, regularly riding 35-50 miles 5 days a week, I have never gotten anymore hamstring cramps, not one. But it's springtime here and I've been doing some riding throughout the winter 2-5 days a week and now 5 days a week but I'm not up to my normal mileage yet. These past few months, not last year, I've just started to get inner thigh cramps at night. You can't walk them out, you can't rub them out, the only thing I can do is lie there and try to relax my mind to relax my body and my leg. The biking has gotten rid of my hamstring clamps but it's created the inner thigh cramp.


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## jabpn (Oct 14, 2005)

It could also be low magnesium levels. Most americans do not get this electrolyte in sufficient quantities. It's also very key as the absorption of Calcium is dependant upon Magnesium. It may also just be a fitness issue. Even though you do a lot of things and are fit overall, I find cycling to be a "sneaky" type of excersie. By this I mean it's very easy to overdo it because you don't "feel" your effort, until all of a sudden, you bonk or cramp. Unlike running sports where the hammering takes it's own toll.


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## jimcav (Jun 15, 2003)

*try calcium magnesium and zinc supplement*

worked for me when i was training for an ironman in southern california--rigours twice daily workouts and that worked for me.

jim


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## orbit (Feb 7, 2007)

...and stretch...

Before your ride and after. This is a good one for the inner thigh - Stand with your legs quite wide apart, both feet dead straight ahead and perfectly parrallel. Keeping your back straight, gently bend one knee and lower yourself and you will instantly feel a strong stretch on the opposite leg. You can slide the stretched leg out further to increase the stretch.


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## Roadrider22 (May 24, 2006)

Thanks for the input. With work schedules and minimum daylight yet I am limited to 3 45 to 50 rigerous workouts on the indoor trainer (no cramps after this) and then two hour rides on the weekend (cramps after these). Probably a combination of not at peak fitness yet and maybe the magnisium (I will try this). Thanks


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## hdnoise (Apr 18, 2003)

Carry a quinine tablet on your long rides, when you feel a cramp coming, or when you are at a distance you know is the danger zone, take the quinine. If you already have a cramp it will fade quickly. If you don't have one, you likely won't get one the rest of the way. On a century, I tend to cramp at 60, and found this works for me. Prescription required as far as I know.


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## mahatma1000 (Apr 24, 2007)

*Oh the pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

I will try and make this brief, I suffer from inner thigh cramps (as well as numerous other sites) but those are the killers. Anyway on the web was a guarenteed relief pill for leg cramps, but it was $30 a month, so I copied their ingrediant which was magnesium citrate, (not that liquid stuff you take before a colonoscopy). Any way, it works for me. Also I never leave home without my Hylands Leg Cramp pills, (quinine) they dissovle under the tongue and provide almost immediate relief for muscle cramps, and I order them from swansons or puritan, I forget which. Hope this helps.:thumbsup:


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## seeborough (Feb 3, 2004)

Do you ride Speedplays?


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## Merlin (May 6, 2002)

I had the same problem for years! I tried EVERYTHING, nothing worked ! Finally used Sportlegs, no more cramping, ever!


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## Sugahara (Jun 1, 2006)

i'll have to try the quinine. had major cramping issues at a rr this past weekend. ugh.


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