# Recovery from cramping



## 633 (Feb 10, 2004)

Did 75 miles on Sunday afternoon when it was brutally hot, and cramped bad the last 15-20 miles, to the point where I was practically locked up several times. Had to get off the bike and try to walk it off. Thought I had plenty of liquids, and in fact got to the point that I had a gutful of Gatorade and the body just couldn't process it any faster. Probably lack of acclimation to the heat, as I've been doing a lot more 40s and 50s morning and evening, and a lot fewer 70s and 80s in the heat like I did last year.

But when I get bad cramps like that, my muscles seem to take several days to recover. I have knots all through my calves, quads and just inside my knees around my IT band area. Usually, after sever cramping, my muscles will hurt that night, get a little worse the next day, and the second day after is just agony before the recovery finally starts. I did about 30 minutes on the trainer yesterday to try to keep things moving, but hurt all day today anyway. Did my normal fast 40 tonight, and am starting to feel better, but does anyone have any good solutions for faster recovery after severe cramping?


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## rule (Dec 2, 2004)

The only trick that I have ever learned about cramping came from a physician who worked with the Dallas Cowboys and with the SMU football team. Here is his approach.

When you start to cramp up, firmly pinch your nose - between your thumb and your forefinger like you are about do a frikkin cliff dive and you don't want to get water up your nose. At the same time, don't tense your body up, just relax and breathe deep and normally through your mouth. The acupressure on your nose will cause the cramp to release in about 20-30 seconds.

I have a lot of issues with leg cramps, especially at night, as a result of taking diuretics. I can't tell you how many times I have used this technique or emphasize enough how well it works. I have done it on the bike too and it can take a little longer when you are in motion, but once you get the hang of it, it works there too.

Is it voodoo or just power of positive thinking? Who knows. But this guy swore by it. I was playing in a soccer tournament one day and kept cramping up like a cadaver in the last match. He hopped down from the bleachers, kneeled beside me and pinched my nose like he was going to lead me off the pitch. He just said to calm down and breathe deeply through my mouth for a few seconds. The cramps released. There was no muscle soreness to work through. I got up and got back into the game. I have been using it ever since. I did the same thing to a mountain biker who was sprawled out on a trail outside of Gothic, Colorado one time. He was hurting so bad that he couldn't stop me. I pinched his nose, told him to relax and breathe and watched his amazement when the cramps released about 30 seconds later. Try it sometime.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Self massage*

Your experience with muscle soreness after cramping is typical. If you want to speed your recovery, try some self-massage. In its simplest form, it can be just laying on your back with your legs propped up against the wall. This drains the blood from your muscles and when you do this a few times, it can really help. Taking it to the next level is to work your muscles with your hands while in this position - the concept is to "squeegee" the blood out of the muscles and toward your heart, which is relatively easy to do with your legs propped up. You can get various self-massage tools (bars, rollers, sticks) that can help as well. That said, you are going to be hurting for a while if you cramped hard, so you really need to work on increasing your salt intake during hot/humid rides. Your sloshing stomach is a sign that you likely didn't have enough electrolytes in your system. It's amazing how much salt you can lose. Dietary guidelines on salt intake are meaningless for people who ride long distances in hot/humid weather.


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## mtbykr (Feb 16, 2004)

*My $.02*

Well for what it's worth, I had some problems with cramps on longer rides in the hot weather. This year I started using nothing but Hammer Nutrition products (www.hammernutrition.com ) to see if they made a difference, and I have had no problems what so ever. (actually doing much better) Nothing spectacular to it: Heed and hammegel in the bottles under 2 hours and add perpetuam over 2 hours, with recoverite after i am done. (add endurolytes on really hot days)

I just came back from an adventure race where a lot of the racers were using hammer stuff for the first time and raved about it (and it was 90+ throughout the 30 hour race) After only a few months I have come to notice that everything hammer does, works great for me!

Just my $.02-----------Good Luck


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## bighead (Feb 27, 2005)

rule said:


> Is it voodoo or just power of positive thinking? Who knows. But this guy swore by it. I was playing in a soccer tournament one day and kept cramping up like a cadaver in the last match. He hopped down from the bleachers, kneeled beside me and pinched my nose like he was going to lead me off the pitch. He just said to calm down and breathe deeply through my mouth for a few seconds. The cramps released. There was no muscle soreness to work through. I got up and got back into the game. I have been using it ever since. I did the same thing to a mountain biker who was sprawled out on a trail outside of Gothic, Colorado one time. He was hurting so bad that he couldn't stop me. I pinched his nose, told him to relax and breathe and watched his amazement when the cramps released about 30 seconds later. Try it sometime.


Accupressure rocks...I managed to cure my carpal tunnel syndrome a few years ago with it - something two physical therapists hadn't been able to do. 

I'll have to try that.


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## coonass (Feb 4, 2004)

*Info:*

http://www.cptips.com/muspain.htm#muscrmp

and excerpt from Nutrition for endurance: (table for losses/hour got scrambled during 'paste', so interpolate)

Getting the right amount of water
On the average, an athlete loses a liter of fluid/hour of exercise. These perspiration-loss rates may be controlled or lessened by acclimation and training. The human body, when fit, will store enough muscle glycogen to provide energy for approximately 90 minutes of aerobic exercise. This extra glycogen storage through training helps balance the hydration equation. As muscle glycogen is burned to create energy for movement, water is released within the cells as metabolic by-product and is diverted to cool the body through skin-surface sweat.

Shepherd and Kavanagh (1978) found that during a marathon, competing runners released an average of 2 liters of perspiration through the process of burning muscle glycogen stores. If an athlete supplements this glycogen water by taking in 16 ounces of fluids for every hour of exercise, dehydration will normally be avoided in those events which last from three to four hours.

Researchers, however, have recently noted the dangers of too much hydration during events lasting over four hours. Noadkes (1985, 1988) reported that runners who drank too much during ultra-marathons and triathlons developed hyponatremeia (low blood serum). Hyponatremia, it turns out, may be caused by drinking too little or too much.

In ultra events, it is typically the front runners who dehydrate; those in the back of the pack tend to over-hydrate. Both suffer from the same hyponatremic symptoms – one from too little fluid intake and too much sodium loss due to profuse sweating; the other from too much fluid intake with proportionately less sodium loss.

Of the 17 runners who were hospitalized from after the 1985 Comrades ultra-marathon, nine had hyponatremia caused by diluting blood sodium levels with too much water. The tendency to linger at aid stations in a vain attempt to relieve the symptoms of fatigue or heat by drinking too much water is a fault found primarily in the runners who populate the back of the pack (Noakes 1990).

Overcoming the Heat
Air temperature and humidity are factors for overcoming heat related stress that one must consider along with fitness and acclimatization. When external temperature and humidity both exceed 70%-degrees, or when either temperature or humidity exceeds 80%-degrees, an athlete may do better to slow down his/her pace, expose as much skin as possible to cooling breezes, and take frequ3ent walk breaks.

Some believe that simple mesh shirts are the coolest (Noakes 1990) but wearing no shirt at all will reduce core temperature 1° in the first mile of running, compared to wearing any type of shirt).

Increased body mass also increases metabolic heat production. A 100kg runner puts out twice the heat of a 50kg runner. No wonder the smaller, thinner runners tend to do better in the heat, year after year. 



What replacement fluids should contain
Body fluid losses include both water and electrolytes. Electrolytes are chemical substances which, when dissolved in the water within the body or lost in our perspiration, are the missing electrically-charged particles, or ions, necessary for cellular metabolism. They help the body’s intra-/extra- cellular chemical balance and assist in the neuro-metabolic expenditure of caloric energy.

Athletes who are more fit and more acclimatized to heat lose less fluids and electrolytes. The rate of loss through sweat for a fit marathon runner includes a sodium loss of 2,000mg in that liter of fluid lost each hour (2kg/liter/hour). The average American athlete stores an excess of 8,000mg of dietary sodium within body tissues

Losses per 1 hour of exercise:
Electrolyte:	Fit/Acclimatized athlete:	Unfit/Unacclimatized athlete:
Sodium 1,800 mg 3,500 mg
Chloride 900 mg 1,400 mg
Potassium 100 mg 200 mg
Magnesium 100 mg 100 mg
Water 1 liter 1 liter
When one considers the possible losses during a 4-hour competitive event, it becomes obvious that maintenance of a balanced electrolyte supplement and moderate amounts of liquid are absolutely necessary both for survival and optimal performance in the heat.

Dose Recommendations per hour for beyond a three-hour performance
Calcium 250 – 500 mg 
L-tyrosine 50 – 100 mg 
Magnesium 125 – 250 mg 
Manganese 5 - 20 mg
Potassium 99 - 198 mg 
Pyridoxine HCL (B-6)	20 - 40 mg 
Sodium Chloride 100 - 200 mg 
Other formulations worth your consideration would increase sodium levels, if not raised to the point where they become problematic and cause negative side effects, more sodium may serve to assist electrolyte depletion and performance depletion in hyperthermic circumstances.

Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body; about 2.85 lbs. are retained in the average person. When blood volumes run low, the body extracts calcium from the bones in a process that usually takes more time than even endurance competition typically allows. A constant blood calcium level is required for a normal rhythmic heartbeat, healthy nerve transmission, and strong muscle contractions. 

Deficiency in blood calcium levels during endurance events may produce high blood pressure, muscle cramps and weakness. During exercise, energy is produced by the conversion of fatty acids and amino acids with enzymes which are calcium-dependent.

Magnesium accompanies calcium in an ideal ratio of 1-part magnesium, to two-parts calcium. It works like this: when calcium flows into working muscle cells, the muscle contracts; then when calcium leaves and magnesium replaces it, the muscle relaxes. Deficiency of magnesium contributes to muscle cramps, tremors, sleep disturbances and, in some cases, convulsive disorders. Many enzymatic reactions necessary for fuel conversion to muscular energy occur with the aid and presence of magnesium substrates.


Potassium is the chief cation, or positively charged ion within all muscle cells. It is necessary to obtain the lowest optimal concentration and balance of sodium. Potassium deficiency symptoms are nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness, muscle spasm, cramping and rapid heart rate.

Sodium is the chief cation outside the muscle cells. As previously noted, American dietary practices cause the average person to carry a reserve of 8,000 mg of sodium in his/her extracellular tissues. During endurance events, 3 to 4 hours are necessary to deplete this reserve of sodium. Deficiency usually begins to occur after 4 hours and may produce symptoms of abnormal heartbeat, muscle twitching and hypoventilation.

The relative anion which must accompany sodium in the extracellular tissues is Chloride. This mineral is absolutely necessary to maintaining the osmotic tension in both blood and extracellular fluids.

Manganese is necessary in trace amounts for optimal muscle cell enzyme reactions, permitting conversion of fatty acids and protein into energy. Research shows that Manganese deficiency plays a vital role in glucose tolerance factors, free-radical buildup from intense exercise and nerve function disorders, especially in older athletes (Balch 1990).

Pyridoxine HCL (Vitamin B-6) is a co-enzyme which plays a role in 60 known enzymatic reactions involving metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and protein. This water soluble B-vitamin actively maintains the sodium-potassium balance and assists in the formation of red blood cells.

L-tryosine, an amino acid, has been added recently to the electrolyte formula. When blood plasma deficiencies occur during extreme endurance events, low thyroid and low adrenal production result. The lack of adrenal and thyroid glandular secretions are due to endurance exercise-induced L-tyrosine depletion, which may be observed by measuring decreases in blood and catecholamines during such exercise. 

These glandular secretions are necessary for maintaining the rate of metabolism. Deficiency of the amino acid L-tryosine in blood serum appears firs as depression, later anger and then despondency, degenerating gradually into total despair.


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## coonass (Feb 4, 2004)

*??*



bighead said:


> Accupressure rocks...I managed to cure my carpal tunnel syndrome a few years ago with it - something two physical therapists hadn't been able to do.
> 
> I'll have to try that.


Is the procedure administered by someone else, or can you do this yourself?


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## bighead (Feb 27, 2005)

******* said:


> Is the procedure administered by someone else, or can you do this yourself?


For CTS? By yourself...a lot of the accupressure stuff is self-administered.

I found a great site on the web a couple of years ago - no sign of it now, though. Its pretty simple to do, but I don't know if I could explain it effectively without pictures or a demo.


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## yellowspox (Apr 3, 2003)

*Potassium,Magnesium,Calciaum*

I just returned from a 500 mile tour in Wisconsin. The second day we had temps around 100, strong head winds and lots of hills. I started cramping in my legs, arms, and abs. I had been having mild cramping during moderate excersie and had scheduled a visit to my doctor after the trip. I only have 1/2 a thyroid and it's something I need to check from time to time. As the cramping increased during the day and fluids weren't helping, I called my doctor's office to see if he could help. He told me to pick-up a bottle of potassium, magnesium, and calcium at the first drug store and keep pushing the fluids. My only problem was no drug store and starting the "treatment" too late. I "locked up" on the bike and had to SAG the last 9 miles. That night, I took two tablets of each...Potassium 550mg, Magnesium 250mg, and Calcium 600mg. I also did the same the following morning and evening but took the day off....way to sore to ride! From then on, no more cramping and I really felt strong enough to pull most of the time for our group.

There seems to be a bit of a time lag for the supplements to catch-up but they really did the job. The Gatorade and water just didn't do the job by themselves. I just wish they would make the tablets a bit smaller. Six pills is a meal!!


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## coonass (Feb 4, 2004)

*Fwiw*

Twinlab manufactures a procuct called "Cellmins Calcium, Magnesium & Potassium.(Cal:200mg, Mag:200mg & Po:200mg/3 capsules) & inexpensive....


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## MikeBiker (Mar 9, 2003)

yellowspox said:


> That night, I took two tablets of each...Potassium 550mg, Magnesium 250mg, and Calcium 600mg.


 The FDA limits the amount of potassium in any supplement to less than 100 mg. Your 550 mg pill (potassium glucomate?) has only 90 to 99 mg of potassium.


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## yellowspox (Apr 3, 2003)

MikeBiker said:


> The FDA limits the amount of potassium in any supplement to less than 100 mg. Your 550 mg pill (potassium glucomate?) has only 90 to 99 mg of potassium.


Yes...that is correct...Potassium Gluconate!


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## 633 (Feb 10, 2004)

Yellowspox, has your doctor indicated that your thyroid probs are in any way related to cramping? I have to take synthroid daily for hypothyroidism, and my dosage has been increased several times in the last two years. I'm starting to think maybe it's too low again. I hadn't thought of that being related in any way to my cramping, though.


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## crankee (Aug 2, 2003)

I have an issue with cramping as well. I've had leg cramps so severe that it felt like the back of my calf was whacked with a ball-peen hammer. It would be sore for 2-3 days (where I could barely walk), but by the 6-7th day I was able to ride again.

I think my problem is caused by two factors: 1) riding too hard and 2) mineral depletion. I cramp only when it's hot. Since I sweat profusely, I was losing minerals quickly. Gatorade and its ilk do little for me. I've tried the Tums trick w/o any luck. I've started using Emer-gen C supplements and so far no problems as long as I don't overdo it on the bike. As long as I pay attention to my HR monitor and govern my riding according to my heart rate and take the supplements as needed, I've been fine despite the heat. Oh yeah, this time of the year I don't ride in the heat of the day. I try to be off the bike by noon-1pm.

Down here in Austin I rode Fri, Sat and Sun - a total of 212 miles and no cramping.


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## mtbykr (Feb 16, 2004)

*Hammer*



crankee said:


> I have an issue with cramping as well. I've had leg cramps so severe that it felt like the back of my calf was whacked with a ball-peen hammer. It would be sore for 2-3 days (where I could barely walk), but by the 6-7th day I was able to ride again.
> 
> I think my problem is caused by two factors: 1) riding too hard and 2) mineral depletion. I cramp only when it's hot. Since I sweat profusely, I was losing minerals quickly. Gatorade and its ilk do little for me. I've tried the Tums trick w/o any luck. I've started using Emer-gen C supplements and so far no problems as long as I don't overdo it on the bike. As long as I pay attention to my HR monitor and govern my riding according to my heart rate and take the supplements as needed, I've been fine despite the heat. Oh yeah, this time of the year I don't ride in the heat of the day. I try to be off the bike by noon-1pm.
> 
> Down here in Austin I rode Fri, Sat and Sun - a total of 212 miles and no cramping.



The conditions you describe was exactly what was happening to me. Again, (as in my earlier post) the hammer stuff has led me to no cramping and I don't have to hold back at all when I ride! You can download their "nutritional guide for endurance athletes" for free on their site---it's a good read!

Good Luck


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## yellowspox (Apr 3, 2003)

633 said:


> Yellowspox, has your doctor indicated that your thyroid probs are in any way related to cramping? I have to take synthroid daily for hypothyroidism, and my dosage has been increased several times in the last two years. I'm starting to think maybe it's too low again. I hadn't thought of that being related in any way to my cramping, though.


It can be one of the symptoms of hypothyroidism. I was checked two years ago after 1/2 of the thyroid was removed and it was OK. I've noticed more & more cramping during moderate excersise and on some yoga postures. That's why I had an appointment scheduled before I left for GRABAAWR. I may yet end-up on synthroid but, if that's what it takes...no problem!


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